They say life isn’t fair and how true those words have ever been. Belka couldn’t believe she had been dumped out in the middle of the desert by people she considers her friends. She had gone to a party with some of the girls from school. Most of the people she went to school with knew she was transgender. Her foster parents were dealing with it the best way they could, but she knew they couldn’t accept the fact she was transgender. The last thing she remembers was drinking a coke she had gotten herself and kept it near her.

The sun was high overhead and she was dressed in a silly party dress. She had bought the dress for the party and slipped into it at her friend’s house. Her forehead was hurting her for some reason. She finds her purse laying nearby and walks over and picks it up. The shoes she wore to the party were silly to wear out here in the desert. She looks around till she spots some tracks and starts following them away from where
she woke up. She follows the tracks for most of the day avoiding any snakes or critters she comes across. She was getting thirsty and the dress she had on didn’t protect her exposed skin.

She was feeling so tired by the time night fell. She had no idea where she was. She finds a group of rocks she could sit, rest and spend the night. She had nothing on her that she could build a fire with. She was afraid to go asleep, but she was so tired. Slowly, she dozes off and slept.

Isa was out for her normal nighttime ride when she comes across the sleeping form of a young teenage girl. The girl looked like she was dressed for the prom or some High school function. She also could tell that she was severely sunburned. Isa swings down off her horse and
pick the unconscious girl up and put her on her horse. She heads back towards the saloon with the young girl.

As she approaches the stables, she notices Ben was outside leaning back against the stables wall reading his newspaper. They had installed a light bright enough for Ben to read his newspaper while he was working. She has come to care for the old cowboy.

Ben looks up from his newspaper when he hears a horse approaching. He knew Ms. Isa was out enjoying her night time ride. It was the only time she had for herself or could go out without being covered up from head to toe. He leans forward and stands up to help Ms. Isa down from her horse.

“Who’s your friend Ms. Isa?” Ben catches the girl as Isa slides her off her horse.

“I don’t know Ben. I found her out in the desert. Be careful with her. I think she has second-degree sunburns.” Isa couldn’t tell how red the girl's skin was, but she knew she had at least a second-degree burn.

“Do you want me to get Caron after we get her upstairs?” Ben helps Isa carry the unconscious up to the back stairs to the second floor and to one of the empty rooms.

Isa undresses the girl and cleans her up. She was right about her having a second-degree burn. The girl was as red as a lobster. While she was tending to the girl, she discovers that she was transgender.

Ben leaves the room and heads downstairs to the saloon to get Caron. Ben liked Caron and was happy that Isa had found a good friend. He had helped nurse Caron back to health. He even taught her how to ride a horse, so she could go horseback riding with Isa.

A few minutes later, a woman dress in an old fashion Victorian gothic saloon girl dress with long black hair comes walking into the room. She had a motherly look about her.

“What did you find out in the desert, Isa?” She looks down at the unconscious girl laying on the bed before her and Isa.

“Would you believe I found this young girl?” Isa looks at her friend.

Caron was a new addition to the Crystal Palace. She had been a trained paramedic that got hooked on drugs to keep her awake and alert.

She got into a car accident and lost her job because of her drug use. They tested her and found out that she had been high on drugs. She lost her job and turned to turning tricks on the streets before a john raped and beat her within an inch of her life. He dumped her body out in the desert to die. She had woken up and stumbled and crawl her way to the outskirts of the old town. A security officer found her and brought her to The Crystal Palace.

Isa and Ben nursed her back to health. Once she was healed, Isa gave her a chance to come and work at the Palace. That had been two years ago. Now, she was the Palace’s nighttime saloon manager and Isa’s good friend.

“If you found her, then that means someone left her out in the desert on purpose to die. Did you find anything to tell you who she is?”

“Yes, I found her clutch laying near her body. I haven’t looked through it yet.” Isa had found the girl’s clutch under her unconscious form.

“Let me go and get my black bag from my room.” Caron heads out of the spare room and goes to her own room.

Isa walks over and empty’s the girl’s clutch on the old fashion antique cherry roll top desk. All the rooms had the same roll top desk. Isa spots a State Issue Id card. She picks the card up and notices it had the girl’s picture on it. The name on the card was Belka Ann Karlen, 2154 Black Circle Drive, Mesquite, Nevada.

There wasn’t any cell phone in her purse. There was forty dollars, her lipstick, a condom, house keys and a small bottle of perfume. Isa looks over towards the girl as Caron applies Aloe Vera to the girl’s body.

“There, that should do it. She’s going to need some rest and be kept hydrated.” Caron had turned around to look at Isa.

Isa turns around to speak with Caron “I found her driver license. Her name is Belka Ann Karlen lives in Mesquite.”

“Is there a number or cell phone for her parents?” Caron walks over to stand next to Isa and looks at the items on the roll top desk.

“Ask Sheriff Markus to run her name through his systems in the morning. Since we don’t have a computer here.” Only Sheriff Markus had the only working computer in their restored town.

“Alright, I’ll do that before I deposit the money tomorrow morning.” Coran normally changes the till in the saloon before the morning shift began.

“Let me know if Sheriff Markus gets any results. I don’t care if you have to wake me.” Isa knew it was getting close to her bedtime.

“Are you sure you’re not a vampire?” Caron knew most of the night staff was like Isa.

They had a bad reaction to sunlight and was blinded by bright light. In a way, she wishes that she had their problem. She enjoyed playing the vampiric saloon girl. She enjoyed working nights, the moon and stars. She heads back downstairs to finish up her shift before shutting down for a while to clean and restock.

Twelve Hours Later:
Caron had delivered the message to Sheriff Markus and asked to be informed when the results came through. She also told him how Isa had found her out in the desert. Isa has said that she will remain a guest at the Palace till she could be moved or returned home.

Belka wakes-up and finds herself in an unfamiliar room. Her body ached, and she could smell Aloe vera covering her body. She had on an old fashion white nightgown. She looks around the room and notices it was kind of old fashion. Even the bed she was laying in was old style. The dresser was an antique like something you would find in the olden days in the wild west. The old roll style top desk and thick white curtains covering the only window in the room. The room had an old western feel to it with its paint job.

She tries to move, but it hurts when she does. Just as she is trying to get up. She hears a knocking sound on her door. The door opens and a dirty blonde hair woman dress in an old-style saloon girl dress walks in.

When Juli walks in to check on Belka, she wasn’t expecting Belka to be awake. The last few times she came in to check on her, she had been asleep.

“Ah, you’re awake. So, how do you feel?”

“Like I was left out in the sun too long.” Belka looks at the woman who came in.

“Well, I hope you are thirsty.” Juli figures she might be thirsty and hunger.

“Yes, I’m very thirsty.” Belka could drink a double gulp right now.

“Okay, let me go and get you something to drink and eat.” Juli leaves the room.

While the woman is gone, Belka looks around the room some more. She wonders where she was. She had noticed that the woman that had been in here, was dressed like an old fashion saloon girl.

Juli returns to the room with a tray in her hand. She had brought up some Gatorade and a nice chicken breast salad.

“Here you go, Belka. A nice chicken breast salad and lemon-lime Gatorade. Our local doctor said that the Gatorade would help replaces your electrolytes. There are also two aspirins on here for you to take to help with the pain.” Juli sets the tray on her lap.

“Ma’am, where am I?” Belka has been wondering where she was since she woke-up.

“You’re the guest of The Crystal Palace Saloon. We’re an old fashion Western saloon. There are no modern facilities here, except the bathroom and the kitchen area. My boss and friend found you while out on her night time ride. I’m Juli by the way.” Juli stood watching over Belka.

“Thank you.” Belka sips the Gatorade first.

She was extremely thirsty.

“Take it easy, when you drink the Gatorade.” Juli pulls the chair over from the roll top desk and sits down next to the bed.

“The Sheriff of our town is going to come over and talk to you. He needs to know what happened to you and how you ended up out in the desert.” Juli knew Sheriff Markus wanted to know how she ended up out in the desert.

He got in touch with the police department in Mesquite to send someone to Belka’s place to inform her foster parents. When they went to the address to inform her foster parents. There was no one there. When they spoke with the neighbors, they discovered that they had moved out and left town. Belka’s stuff was inside the house.

Sheriff Markus had informed Isa about the situation. The girl was in the foster care program. Markus thinks the parents might have had something to do with her being dumped out in the desert, but there was no way to prove it. She was only sixteen years old and her birthday was next week.

Once Belka was done, Juli takes the tray back down to the kitchen. She heads back upstairs and runs into Isa as she was walking towards Belka’s room.

“She’s awake and alright Isa, but she does have a problem. Markus tried to get in touch with Belka’s parents to let them know she had been found in the desert. He called the police department in Mesquite. They sent an officer to her foster parent’s house, and the place was empty. The officer spoke to the neighbors and they said that the family had moved out. I think they had something to do with what happened to Belka. They left all her stuff in her bedroom.” Juli couldn’t believe Belka’s foster parents would do that.

“See if Markus can get me her caseworker, please. Tomorrow, I’ll send Fredrick and Jesse over to the house and pack her stuff up. Have them bring it back here. She can stay with us till we figure out everything.” Isa was the owner of The Crystal Palace, so she could allow Belka to stay with them.

A few hours later, Sheriff Markus shows up to speak with Belka. He had spoken with Sergeant Jordyn Strickland. He had sent a patrol over to the street address on Belka’s driver license. According to Sergeant Strickland, her parents had skipped town.

“Hey Sheriff, what brings you up here this afternoon?” Betty was curious.

“Just coming up to see Isa.”

“She’s upstairs checking on our guest.” Betty now knew why he was here.

Sheriff Markus walks upstairs and sees Isa and Juli talking in the hallway near a door.

“So, this is where you are hiding.” He walks towards them.

“Hey Markus, we ’re about to go in and talk with Belka.” Isa had a pleasant smile on her face.

Her and Markus have become close friends since she renovated the old saloon. It had been her suggestion that they have an actual Sheriff, but that he carries on the tradition of the old west theme they had going in the restored town.

At first, Markus hated it, but he saw how well the tourist liked what was going on and got into it. Now he was enjoying the fake shoot-outs and reenactments of fake bank robberies.

“Would you mind if I speak with Belka by myself. Then when I come out, you can come in?” Markus wanted to talk with Belka without Isa and
Juli.” Markus looks at both women.

“Okay, just remember Markus. The poor girl was out in the sun all day long. When you're done, I was going to escort her down to the baths to soak for a while.” Juli knew that a nice soak would feel nice on Belka’s poor skin.

“I won’t be with her too long.” Markus knocks on the door.

“Come in.” Belka had been surprised that someone had knocked before entering.

The way the bed was sitting, she could see the person who walked it. The person was dressed like a Wild West sheriff. He looked like Wyatt Earp from Tombstone. Dressed all in black with a white shirt and black vest. His badge was on the left side of his vest.

He looked like a guy that spent a lot of time out in the sun. He was wearing a black hat and had short black hair.

“You must be the sheriff around these parts.” Belka just watches as he got closer to her bed.

Markus notices that Belka was as red as a lobster. Her long brown hair was limp and just laying on her shoulder.

“I’m Sheriff Markus, and you must be Belka Ann Karlen, from Mesquite, Nevada.” Markus had memorized her information.

“Yes, sir. Have you contacted my parents yet?” Belka was wondering why her foster parents weren’t here.

Markus looks at Belka and didn’t know how to tell her, that her parents had abandoned her. He looks into her gray eyes and takes a deep breath.

“I have some bad news for you. Your foster parents have skipped town. They packed up everything that belongs to them and left. However, they left your room alone.” Markus still couldn’t believe they did what they did.

Tears stream down her cheek. She thought her foster parents care for her. Even though they were having a hard time dealing with the fact she was transgender, they didn't treat her badly. She just cries as she feels her heart breaking. She thought for once she had parents that love her.
Markus hands her the handkerchief he carries around in his pocket.

Once Belka has calmed down some. He sits down in the chair next to the bed and pulls out his notebook.

“Belka, can you tell me how you ended up out in the desert?” Markus pulls his pen out to start writing.

“I went out partying with some friends to a club. I had permission from my foster parents. In fact, they encouraged me to go out with my friends. We went to a club and I kept my eyes on my drink. I don’t know when I blacked out, but I woke up out in the desert. I followed the tire tracks until I started getting tired. It was getting dark outside and I decided to lay down from exhaustion. When I woke up, I found myself here in this bed and Juli has been taking care of me.” The aspirin was helping with the pain from the sunburn.

“Do you recall everyone that was with you and what club you guys went too?”

“The people I had gone with, were supposed friends of mine in school. There was Robert, Sammy, Frank, Sera, Cindy, Kelly and Brittney. We went to a place called the Desert Rose. It’s a club for teenagers between sixteen and twenty-one. A place we could feel safe at and enjoy the company of other teenagers.” Belka had been looking forward to her first time there.

“You said that you kept an eye on your drink the whole time you were there and didn’t accept drinks from anyone, other than your server?”
Markus had a sneaking suspicion who might have spiked her drink.

"Yes sir. The only person who touched my drink was the server and bartender." Belka remembered watching the bartender, because he was cute.

“Do you know in which direction you came from?” Markus wonders if she could recall the tracks she had been following.

“No, sir. I can’t recall in which direction I came.” Belka was never any good with directions.

“Well, that’s all the questions I have for you now. I’ll see what I can find out about whoever dumped you out in the desert.” Markus stands up and puts his notebook away.

“Sir, what is going to happen to me, since my foster parents have abandoned me?” Belka was worried.

“You don’t have anything to worry about right now, except getting better. The manager of this place is Isa Darkrose will be taking care of you, until we figure everything out.” Markus already knew Isa had a soft spot for hard luck cases.

Most of her employees at one time or another had needed help with their lives. She had given them a second chance. Sometimes, their only chance as well.

“I hope you feel better, Ms. Karlen.” He gives her a friendly smile before leaving.

When he steps out into the hall, he notices Isa and Juli waiting for him.

“Ladies, I’ll see you later.” Markus heads down the hallway towards the stairs.

“I’ll go and check on her Isa.” Juli heads into the room.

Belka couldn’t believe how busy the saloon got during the day and at night. She also couldn’t believe that she had to dress as if she was living in the old west. Isa and Juli informed her that the town had rules about the people who lived in it. One of those rules was that all people who lived in the restored area must dress as if they were in the old west.

So, Juli managed to find clothes in her size that she could wear. She had to adjust to wearing pantaloons and a camisole. It felt strange to her as she wore them. She was getting used to wearing boots as well. She was still recovering from her second-degree sunburn.

She heads downstairs to the saloon area and over towards the bar. Isa said she could order anything she wanted, as long it was non-alcoholic. If she left the saloon, she was to inform the manager on duty or the barman.

As she approaches the bar. She spots Harry wiping it down. He was a very muscular guy. He used to be a police officer until he shot a thirteen-year-old kid.It was a dark alley and the gun the kid was carrying, looked so real. He was cleared of wrongdoing, but it ate at him for killing an innocent kid.

So, he quit the force and came out west. He heard about the restored town and became the bouncer and bar manager of the Crystal Palace.

“Morning Harry.” Belka sits on her favorite bar stool.

A smile appears on Harry’s face. He liked talking to Belka and felt sorry for her. He heard that she had been abandoned out in the desert by her friends and abandoned by her foster parents. Sheriff Markus was working with the Mesquite Police department to locate her foster parents and the kids that left her out in the desert. Right now, she is the ward of his boss Isa Darkrose. He knew she was upstairs in her apartment asleep. She was a night person, like several others that were just like her. They all slept during the day like vampires from the stories he uses to read. They weren’t vampires, but because certain physical characteristic they all shared. They didn’t like sunshine or bright light.

“Morning Belka, how are you feeling this morning?” Harry could tell her skin was still red from being out in the sun.

“I’m doing better. I’m using the cream Juli gave me for my sunburned skin and drinking lots of fluids. Is the saloon always this quite early in the morning?” Belka was looking around.

It was only nine in the morning. There were a few guys playing poker and at another table were several guys eating.

“Yep, the morning time is our slowest time. We don’t start getting busy, until after mid-day.” Harry liked the slowness because it gave him a chance to clean the bar and take inventory of the liquor. If he needed to restock, he could without being bothered.

“What do you have planned for today?” As Harry looks at Belka.

“I thought I would explore the town. Is that alright?” Belka didn’t want to do anything that made Isa mad or caused her to get in trouble about.

“That’s fine. Here, take this. Isa is giving you an allowance.” Harry hands Belka a twenty-dollar bill.

Belka accepts it and looks at it. She knew that they didn’t use credit cards in town. Also, the town blocked all cellular signal, except what Sheriff Markus used or the one Isa used for the Palace. If anything needed to be fax or sent by computer, you had to go down to the Sheriff office or the restored telegraph building.

“Thanks, Harry.” Belka tucks the money into the pocket made into the dress.

“Any time, Belka.” Harry picks a glass up and cleans it.

Belka gets up and head towards the swing doors and walk outside onto the front porch of the saloon. She spots several horses tied up as she looks around the town. The place was like walking back into time. There were no modern buildings or anything like that.

All the restored building look like they did back when they were first built. She walks down the wooden sidewalk there was an old fashion barber shop. The gun shop, a bathhouse, assets office, wagon shop which was currently working on two wagons. The telegraph office and finally the General Store. The church was at one end of the town. The sheriff and Doctor’s office were at the other end of town.

The parking lot where visitors were required to park their cars. It was located where the old cattle corral used to be. It had security personnel to look after the parking lot, making sure nothing happened to the cars.

There was a train station that was in the process of being restored, so visitors could catch the train from different areas. The old tracks had to be removed and replacements laid down. The town was in the process of getting an actual train from that era to use.

There was a second hotel being restored that was more upper class and more family oriented. The people working on it were the same team that maintains all the buildings. They didn’t use modern tools, but tools of the times. Some members were volunteers, while others were workers that lived at the town.

Belka stops at a tailor shop and admires the dresses they had on display. This was still new to her. The people at the Crystal Palace that knew what she was, didn’t mind that she was transgender. If nothing else, some of the staff that acted like vampires and such use to be just like her.
Belka walks down to the Sheriff’s office to see if sheriff Markus has heard anything about her case.

Sheriff’s Office:
Sheriff Markus and his deputies were busy filing reports and checking the outskirts around town. Some of them preparing for the midday shootout that occurs once or twice a week. All of them wore old-style western clothing.

Markus was in his office looking over what he had so far on the kids. None of them had been in trouble before. The Mesquite police department was still trying to track them down to question them about leaving Belka Karlen out in the desert. He looks up and spots Ms. Karlen walking into the office.

He waits till she comes in “good morning, Ms. Karlen what brings you down here today?”

Belka looks at Sheriff Markus “I was wondering if you had found where my foster parent went and why my so-called friends left me out in the desert?”

Sheriff Markus looks at Belka and could tell she felt betrayed by people she thought were her friends. He knew how that feeling felt himself.

“I haven’t heard anything back from Mesquite police, Belka. I wished I did, but as of right now. They haven’t managed to find your friends or track where your parents went. As soon as I hear anything, you’ll be the first to know.” Markus figures he might have to send two of his deputies to investigate the matter.

Belka wonders why the Mesquite police were having problems finding her friends and her parents. She wanted to know why they couldn’t find them.

“Thanks, Sheriff Markus.” Belka turns around and leaves the Sheriff office. Tears were streaming down her red cheeks.

She heads back to the Crystal Palace and up to her room. She throws herself onto the bed and cry.

Mesquite Police Department:
“Branston, could you come to my office please?” Captain Webster looks at their newest Detective.

“Sure chief, what’s up?” Detective Branston walks into Captain Webster’s office.

“I have a case for you. It involves that young transgender that was found out near Lincoln, county. I need for you to track down these suspects and interview them. According to what the Sheriff out at Crystal Springs resort said they were responsible for leaving a Belka Ann Karlen out in the desert to die. She uses to live at 2154 Black Circle Drive, Mesquite, Nevada. Her foster parents have disappeared and so far, we haven’t been able to locate her friends. So, I want you to see what luck you have.” Captain Webster couldn’t believe that they couldn’t find the kids or the foster parents.

“I’ll see what I can do, Chief.” Branston wonders why they left the girl out in the desert.

He heads back to his desk and look up all their address and look over the notes that had been sent from the Sheriff of Crystal Springs. He looks at the name of the club and will start there first to see if anyone noticed anything. He grabs his suit jacket and heads out to investigate the case.

The first place he was heading to, was the club called Desert Rose. He hopes someone there can tell him what they saw.

Desert Rose
Vicki comes in early to start her shift. She had a smile on her face from the great sex she had last night. She rode her boyfriend like a wild stallion and could have stayed home and ridden him some more. She cleans the bar top and got ready to open. She doesn’t know why she took the morning shift. Nothing ever happens.

As Vicki is fixing a drink for one of her patrons. She notices a man wearing a black cowboy hat and a charcoal gray western style suit walking up to the bar. He was rather tall and squarely built. She notices that he had on a pair of black cowboy boots.

As he approaches the bar “can I help you?” Vicki had a pleasant smile on her face.

“Yes, I would like to talk to whoever was working a couple of nights ago.”

“That would be me.” Vicki looks at him with a puzzled look on her face.

“Detective Sebastian Branston with the Mesquite Police department.” Sebastian smiles at the bartender.

She wasn’t too bad to look at. He figures she had to be in her mid-twenties, early thirties. She looked like she was part Latina and part European.

“I’m Vicki Clarkson, head bartender.”

“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. I like to know if you saw this girl a couple of nights ago. She would have been with some friends around her age.” Sebastian shows the bartender a picture of Belka.

“I see so many people, its kind of hard to remember all their faces.” Vicki looks at the picture and after a few minutes of looking at the picture.
Vicki remembered her being supported by two guys that had come with her. She thinks they came with her. The rest of her group left at the same time as she did.

“All I remember of that night was here being carried out by two guys. I hadn’t seen them before and the group that was with her, seem to know them.” Vicki remembers one of the girls that Belka came with talking to the guy that helped carry Belka out of the club.

“Can you give me a description of the guys that carried her out?” Sebastian pulls his notepad out to take notes.

He really didn’t need to record the description, because he had a photographic memory. Sometimes it was helpful and sometimes it was a pain in the butt. He listens to Vicki as she describes the two men that carried Belka.

“They both had short black hair, one was taller than the other one and they both were dress rather nicely. Not expensive, but more like they bought their clothes at one of the local stores that cater to teenagers. One was African American and the other one was white. The African American was slightly taller and looked like he spent time lifting weights.” Vicki couldn’t remember anything else about them, except they were young.

“You wouldn’t have security video of them as they were leaving, would you?” Sebastian had spotted a few cameras around the place.

“Let me check and burn you a copy of that night.” Vicki heads back to the manager’s office and burns a copy of the security footage from that night.

A few minutes later, she comes back out with the DVD.

“Here you go, Detective. I hope this helps you with the case.” Vicki hands the disk over to Sebastian.

“Thank you, Ma’am.” He accepts it and tucks the disk into his jacket pocket.

“Here’s my card if you remember anything.” Sebastian digs his one of his old business cards out.

It still had his extension on it from when he was a cop in Austin, Texas. He marks through the number and write his cell number down and hand it to Vicki.

Vicki accepts it and glances at it. She noticed it had the Texas symbol on it and that the number had been scratched through. She looks up at him “so, you're originally from Texas?”

“Yes ma’am, I am. Born and bred in Dripping Springs, Texas.” Sebastian miss Texas, but there wasn’t a detective position available in the Austin Police department.

His Sergeant had a friend on the Mesquite Police Department and arranged for him to get on as a Detective if he wanted it. He was still adjusting to how things were done out here in Nevada. So, far things haven’t been that bad. This case will be his very first one since coming to Nevada.

“Well, Detective, I hope you get your person.” Vicki had heard that Texas Rangers always got their man.

“Thanks.” As Sebastian leaves the bar and heads towards the address he had for the others.

He didn’t really understand why a bunch of kids would leave a young transgender girl out in the desert. There were quicker ways to kill a person. The first stop he makes is at the home of Sammy Timmons.

Sebastian pulls up in front of a cream color house with green trim and red shingles. It had a garage attached to the house capable of holding two cars. The front yard needed to be cut, but otherwise, the house looked well maintained.

He gets out of his truck and walks up to the front door and ring the doorbell. Sebastian waits a few minutes, looking through the front windows to see if there were any movement inside. He doesn’t see anyone inside. He walks around the house to see if there was an unlocked door but doesn’t find one.

When he gets back around to the front door, he pulls his lockpicks out and picks the lock. When it clicks open, he walks inside the place. He puts on a pair of rubber gloves on his hands. He shuts the door behind him as he searches the house. He finds pictures of who might be the boy he is looking for.

He searches the rooms and finds the boys room. The room was what you would expect a teenage boy room would look like. He walks over to the desktop computer in the room and tries to log on.

The computer was password protected. So, he walks out of the house and goes to the second address of the other person from that night.

Crystal Place:
Belka was helping Ginger in the kitchen. Ginger was showing her how to cook a whole pig and side of beef on the split. Ginger was from Ireland and loved cooking things the old fashion way. She had a bunch of recipes that fit Crystal’s old style of doing things.

“So, how do you like staying at the Palace?” Ginger wipes her hands on a wet towel.

“I like it. Do you know why Ms? Darkrose choose to go with an old west theme with eh hotel and town?” Belka was curious about that.

“You’ll have to ask Isa yourself for that information. All I do know, most of us are given second chances around here.” Ginger walks over to the small refrigerator and grabs some fruit juice for her and Belka.

Belka watches the meat as it cooks on the split. She does wonder what she will do now that she has turned seventeen and is only a year away from being aged out of foster care. As for this place, no one cared that she is transgender. If nothing else, they treat her as if she has always been a girl.

Ginger hands the bottle of juice she got for Belka to her.

“Thank you.” As Belka accepts it.

“So, what are your favorite things to do?” Ginger sits on a stool and looks towards Belka.

“I really don’t know. I’m pretty good at drawing and painting. I was thinking about going to some sort of art school when I graduated from high school.” Belka mops on the drippings and spread on some spices that Ginger handed her.

“You still can. Did you have a plan on getting the money you needed to attend the art school?” Ginger figures Isa would allow her to work at the
Crystal Palace.

“I was going to try to get a scholarship or grant money. There’s a whole lot of possible grants I could qualify for that I was looking at.” Belka had picked out at least six she could apply for.

“Well, nothing is stopping you now from trying. Why don’t you sit down with Isa and tell her what you would like to do? She might know of a way to help you.” Ginger knew if anyone could help Belka’s dreams come true, it would be Isa.

Detective Sebastian Branston pulls up to the other teenager’s house. There was a silver minivan in the driveway. He gets out and heads towards the front door. Just as he was about to knock on the door, it opens. A woman with long black hair, dress in a nice peach color dress opens the door before he could knock.

“Who are you?” Carol wanted to know who this person was.

“I’m Detective Sebastian Branston with the Mesquite Police Department.”

“Why are you here?” Carol was curious why a detective from the Mesquite police department was at her home.

“I’m here to speak to your daughter, Cindy.” Detective Branston watched Carol’s. He notices her expression changed.

“That would be kind of hard detective. My daughter and her friends are in the hospital either unconscious or in a coma.” Tears leak from Carol’s eyes.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Can you tell me what happened? Also, could we take this conversion inside please?” Detective Branston was a little warm outside.

“Yes, please come in.” She steps aside to let Detective Branston inside her home.

Once they are inside, they head for the living room. Detective Branston sits near Carol on the end piece of the L shape sofa. He takes his book out and pens out to take notes.

"Mrs. Rasmussen, can you tell me anything about what happened to your daughter and her friends?”

“I can tell you what the police have learned already. A couple of nights ago, my daughter and her friends went out with a friend of theirs to have some fun. They had just won some money from one of those scratch tickets and wanted to celebrate. It was the next day when I received a phone call from Highway Patrol saying that my daughter and her friends had been in an accident. The trooper that found them, said the car looked pretty beat-up and that all the kids inside were seriously injured.” Carol breaks into tears as the words of what the trooper said echoed in her mind.

“Did you get the trooper name, Mrs. Rasmussen?” As Detective Branston hands her a handkerchief from his pocket.

“Thank you.” As she accepts the handkerchief. She wipes her eyes and blows her nose.

Detective Branston was wondering why didn’t his department know about this? Why didn’t the officers they sent out to locate these kids talk with the parents? This was something he was going to investigate.

“Yes, let me get the name for you.” Mrs. Rasmussen gets up and heads into the kitchen to get the piece of paper she wrote the trooper name on and the hospital the kids were in.

Detective Branston was wondering what was going on? Also, how much money did the kids win or were they paid the money?

“Here it is Detective.” As Mrs. Rasmussen hands the notepaper to Detective Branston.

Detective Branston accepts it “thank you.” As he glances at the name and the hospital she was given.

He notices that the kids had been taken to Spring Valley Hospital in Las Vegas. The name of the Trooper that had been written down was trooper Charlie Williams. He looks towards Mrs. Rasmussen.

“You said the kids won some money from a scratch ticket? Do you recall how much they won?” Detective Branston wonders if Belka parents
paid them.

“I don’t recall. All Cindy said was they won a lot of money and split it between them.” Carol remembered Cindy being so happy about the money.

“Did all her friends share into this fortune?”

“I believe so. I think the only one that didn’t was a girl named Belka Karlen. She wasn’t with them when they bought the scratch-off.” Carol didn’t care for Carol at all.

When she found out that Belka was a biological male pretending to be a girl. She wanted her daughter not to associate herself with him. She didn’t want Cindy or herself become excommunicated from the Mormon church.

The detective thought he detected a little disgust in Mrs. Rasmussen’s tone when she said Belka’s name. Does he wonder if she had anything to do about her being left out in the desert?

“Mrs. Rasmussen, do you have a problem with Belka Karlen?”

“I have problems with people who have a mental illness. The boy dresses and acts like a girl when he wasn’t born one. It goes against gods word and is a sin.” Carol believed strongly in what the Mormon church preached about homosexuality.

“So, you're saying you know Belka is a transgender person?” Detective Branston dislikes people who let religion or their misunderstanding of things cloud their judgment.

“Yes, I know that Belka is really a boy pretending to be a girl. I didn’t like it when my daughter was around him.” Mrs. Rasmussen had a disgusted look on her face.

Detective Branston studies Mrs. Rasmussen’s facial expression to see if she would go to the extreme to kill Belka. He doesn’t think she was the type that would kill someone, because she hated them. Yes, she was disgusted with the fact Belka dressed and pretended that she was a girl, but there wasn’t murder in her eyes.

Detective Branston closes his notepad and stands up as he puts it and his pen away.

“It’s been informative talking to you, Mrs. Rasmussen. By the way, did the trooper report say what might have damaged the car your daughter was in?”

“He didn’t tell me. All I know was the kids were close to death by the time they were taken to the hospital. According to the doctor that operated on my daughter. If they hadn’t gotten to the hospital when they did. I would be planning a funeral right now.” Mrs. Rasmussen escorts Detective Branston to the door.

“I’ll be in touch with you, Mrs. Rasmussen.” Detective Branston heads towards his car and gets in.

He wanted to see the car the kids had been in for himself. He knew which impound the car would have been towed to. Drives towards the impound.

It takes him thirty minutes to arrive at the impound. He pulls up to the office and turns his car off. When he gets out, he heads inside. He spots a heavy Mexican guy behind the counter. The man looked like he needed to go on a diet.

Detective Branston walks up to the counter. He watches as the man puts something down on the counter behind the counter.

“What can I do for you, señor?”

“I would like to examine a car that got towed in here two days ago by the State Police.”

“Let me get someone to escort you out to the car, señor.” Francisco picks up a walkie-talkie and starts speaking Spanish into it.

A few minutes later a skinny looking teenage girl with short greasy hair comes walking into the office. The jumpsuit she had on was covered in grease and dirt. It didn’t look like it had been washed in a couple of days. In the middle of her neck, looked to be a nasty scar that went across her neck.

Francisco looks at the girl and in Spanish “ Hazte útil y acompaña a este gringo hasta el naufragio al que vamos hace dos días.”

Alejandra looks at Detective Branston and motions for him to follow her. She doesn’t know if he was understanding her.

“Do you want me to follow you?”

Alejandra nods her head yes. As she turns and leads Detective Branston out into the yard. She takes her time because her leg was bothering her.

Detective Branston follows the young girl. He saw how she favored one leg. He wonders how she got the scar on her throat. It was ragged and looked old.

It takes them a few minutes to come to a black 2017 GMC Acadia. The thing looked beaten to hell. Whatever ram it off the road, had to be just as big or then it.

All the glass and front windshield were broken. The roof was caved in as well. He could see where the rescuers had to use the jaws of life to pry open the doors to pull the people out. He spots the girl that brought him to it, standing nearby and was watching him.

He looks inside and saw blood on the seat and the headliner of the roof. He keeps going over the vehicle and finds a cellphone the state police missed, wedged up and under the passenger seat. He takes a pair of gloves out and fishes the cellphone out.

He tries to power it up, but the battery was dead. He places it in an evidence bag. He’s hoping one of the techs back at headquarters might be able to turn it on. He takes a few pictures of the vehicle. He makes sure he takes pictures of the license plate.

As he stands there looking at the SUV, he wonders if this wasn’t on purpose? Something about it just wasn’t right. He looks at the girl that escorted him out to the vehicle. There were sadness and desperation in her eyes. He spotted a fading bruise on the left side of her face. It was partially covered up by the grease smear on her cheek.

He walks up to her and pulls out a business card “here take this card. If you need help, call me.”

Alejandra tentatively takes it and slip it into her pocket. She slips it into the waistband of her panties, through a hole in her pocket. She escorts the man back up to the front office.

Once he walks inside, she turns around and goes back to what she was doing before she was told to come to the office. She was tired and hungry, but if she wanted to eat tonight. She needed to finish pulling the parts Francisco told her to pull. If not, it will be the third night in the row she will go without food.

Francisco watches as the man leaves. He wonder, if his niece told him anything? If she knew what was good for her, she had better not.

Forensic Department, Mesquite Police Department:
After leaving the junk yard, Detective Branston heads back to the station. He’s hoping his pal Edward Nut could power the cellphone and tell him what is on it. He arrives at the station and parks his patrol car in his normal spot. He gets out and heads towards Nut’s forensic lab and hopes he can retrieve something form the phone.

When Detective Branston walks into Nut’s lab. He hears him singing off key to Roxanne.
“Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light. Those days are over. You don't have to sell your body to the night, Roxanne.” Nut was singing into a stick in his hand.

Detective Branston just shakes his head as he knocks on the door. He knew people around the police precinct thought Edward was a nutcase, but he was good at what he does.

“Hey Nut, you want to turn the music down?” Detective Branston watches as Nut jumps from being found out.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Detective Branston’s voice. He puts the stick down he was using as a make belief mic and turn the music down.

“God! You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have your music up so loud. I need a favor from you.” As Detective Branston walks over to him.

“What do you need?” Nut knew Branston always needed a rush job done.

“I need for you to retrieve whatever information is still stored on this cellphone.” Detective Branston lays the bag that had the cellphone in it on the table.

Nut puts a pair of gloves on and takes the cellphone out to examine it. It looked in good condition and he had the plug necessary to charge it back up.

“I’ll see what I can do for you. Everything looks fine, so it shouldn’t be a problem to retrieve what data I can from it.” Nut takes it over to his work bench and plug it into one of the charges he has.

“Thanks.” Detective Branston walks out of Nut’s lab and back to his desk to go over what he has so far.

He needs to find the report the State Police would have filed on the SUV and occupants.

0100hrs. El Do Ray Impound Lot:
Alejandra moves quietly through the junkyard. She managed to sneak out of the room she was kept in and she uses the cover of darkness to move among the junk cars and such. She had managed to get all the parts she needed for her project and the parts she needed for her uncle.
Tonight, he fed her a six-pack of tacos he went and bought for her.

She shared what food he gave her with the others. The other people were paying off the debt they owed to the coyotes to bringing them to America. Basically, they were slave labor for her uncle. He wasn’t required to feed them, but he did. Her on the other hand, he could do whatever he wanted.

She manages to make it to where she had hidden a dune buggy she found among all the wreck vehicles in the yard. She has been working on it since she arrived at the junkyard. Her uncle didn’t know anything about it, because it had been buried under a lot of junk cars. The frame was intact, but it was missing everything else. During the day she would search for the parts she needed in the junkyard and come back out at night and remove them.

It has taken her almost eight months to put it back together properly. During that time, she had to be careful moving around the junkyard at night. Sometimes, she had to wait until her uncle drunk himself into unconsciousness. Other times she had to wait till he fell asleep after having his fun either beating her for something she forgot to do or forcing himself on the other women working at the junkyard.

Her uncle was a sadistic person and enjoyed inflicting pain on her and the others. She had the scars on her body from where he went too far. She checks one last time, as she ducks into the work area where the dune buggy was. It was almost complete. Alejandra grabs the tools she needed to finish bolting down the engine and connecting the fuel lines. She may not have gone to school like most mechanics, but after being forced to remove parts from junk cars and listening and watching the mechanics that worked at the junkyard. She learned how to rebuild the dune buggy. She steps back and couldn’t believe the buggy was finished.

She grabs the gas cans she filled up with gas from the tanks of the cars they got in. She pours the gas into the double fuel cells she found out in the junkyard in an old racing car. Once the tanks are filled up. She grabs the helmet and put it on. It was a little tight on her head, but she didn’t care.

The buggy was ready, and she could finally leave her uncle. She tries the buggy, but it doesn’t want to start right away. She pumps the gas pedal and presses the start button. The engine roars to life as she gives it some gas. She lets it idle as she looks at the gauges.

Alejandra gives it some gas and holds on as it shoots out of the area, she had put it back together. She drives through the junkyard and towards the main gate. She gives the dune buggy a little more gas and crashes through the gate. She reinforced the front of the buggy, so she could ram the gate. She also left bolt cutters for the others to use to escape from her uncle and his men.

She rides out into the night and follows the road. She had no idea where she was going, but she wanted to get as far as she could from her uncle.

Alejandra had managed to find cover near Stewart Bay. She hopes none of her uncle’s people come after her. She watches as the sun slowly raises into the morning sky. She covers up a yawn as she slowly let her eyes close. She was so tired and the adrenaline she had felt, was slowly fading causing her to feel tired. She curls up in the seat of the dune buggy and try to get some sleep in.

Before she fell asleep, she checked the fuel gauge on her primary tank which was at half a tank and her secondary tank was full. She had two five-gallon tanks that were attached to the dune buggy if she needed extra fuel.

Alejandra wakes-up twelve hours later. She was more tired then she thought she was. She gets out of the dune buggy and finds some bushes she could do her business without any one seeing her. Once she was done, she walks over to the edge of water and slip her batter shoes off
and walk into the water. The coolness from the water felt nice against her bruised skinned.

She kneels and splash some of the cool water onto her face. She has no idea what she is going to do, but anything was better then being her uncle’s slave. After a few minutes she walks back to the dune buggy and changes out of the clothes she had. They were old and a little big on her, but they were clean and better then what she had on.

She pops open the glove compartment, after pressing a few buttons to open it. Inside was some money she found while going through the cars. There wasn’t much, but at least she could get something to eat and drink. Alejandra climbs back into the dune buggy and start it up.

She presses the restaurant app on the GPS she found and get inside the dune buggy. It gives her direction to a nearby McDonald’s. She parks the buggy and heads inside to place her order.

As she is pulling the money out of her pocket, Detective Branston business card falls out of her pocket. She picks it up and look at it. Maybe she should call him, but what if he finds out that she is illegal?

She walks back over to her dune buggy and sit in it as she eats her lunch.

Forensic Department, Mesquite Police Department:
Edward checks the power level on the cellphone and notices it was fully charged. He tries to log on, but it was pass coded. He uses a few tricks he knows and manages to crack the code. He looks through all the apps and pictures. He finally finds some information and a video the girl made when they were out partying and when they got hit on the highway. He saves the footage on his laptop and contacts Detective Branston.

Mesquite, Police Department:
Detective Branston was sitting at his desk when he received a message from Edward. He checks the email and notices two video files had been sent to him. He plays the first one and watches as all the kids went to Desert Rose and were having fun. He keeps watching and after about thirty minutes, two guys come over to talk with the kids and with Belka. It seems that they knew the two men.

They joined them out on the dance floor and when they came back. Belka was acting like she was drunk. The group just let the two guys take Belka away from their group.

“So, the whole thing was a set-up from the beginning. They planned on killing her, but why?” Detective Branston wonders why her foster parents would try to kill her.

He plays the next video and it shows the group of kids in the SUV and heading down the highway. They were having fun and laughing. Music was blaring and they were tossing money around inside the SUV. Then the vehicle shook as it had been hit.

The girl holding the phone had turned around to catch what was hitting them. Even though it was night time, he could make out a truck slamming into the rear of the SUV, causing the driver to lose control and flip several times.

Detective Branston pauses the video and looks at the pictures he took of the wreck SUV and notices where the other vehicle smacked the rear end of it. He brings the State Trooper report up and reads it. It mentioned nothing about the SUV being forced off the highway.

He leans back into his chair and thinks about what he has found out. Either the State Troopers were in on it or they were incompetent. The question now was, who were the two men that took Belka out of the club and dumped her out in the desert and why? The second question was, who wanted to kill the kids that set Belka up?

The Crystal Palace:
Belka was sitting at a spot she found that gave her a wonderful scene of the desert as the sun rose up into the sky. She had her easel stand and canvas setup as she painted the scene. So, far she has done four pictures and two paintings since she came to The Crystal Palace. Isa commissioned her to do one of the Palace itself and had it hung up in the place.

Some of the residents in town commissioned her to do drawings for them. The sheriff asked her to design a new sign for his office but keep it the style the town was founded on. Belka loved drawing and painting. There was something about the feeling of allowing the brush express how she felt inside. The colors were so close to the originals, that it was like she was replicating them exactly.

Isa stood a few feet behind Belka and watched as she painted. She could see that Belka was talented. The way she captured the valley before them was remarkable.

She thinks about the conversion her and Belka had the other day about her future. She wanted to go to art school and become a famous artist. Isa knew, most artist didn’t become famous, till after their deaths. She did however consider that maybe they should open an art gallery in town to display local artist work.

She arranged a meeting with the tribal council that allowed her to operate on tribal land and who had bankrolled the restoration of the town itself. She had managed to pay the money back at the interest rate they gave her. When Belka approached her about her future and getting the surgery she needed to become a woman. She went to them again to see if there were any grants or scholarships that Belka could apply for. She told them she would match any for her.

The tribal council didn’t have any that Belka could apply for. If she was Native American, she could have applied for. However, there were a few from the state that she could apply for, since she was in foster care.

Isa helped her apply for them and she found a few grants that Belka could get because she was a female. It was a fine line about that, but because her doctor said she suffered from gender dysphoria. Belka applied for them and was waiting to hear back if she was going to get it or not. Isa was willing to fund Belka’s college fund.

Normally, Isa would be in bed now, but she wanted to see Belka had been sneaking off too. Some of the staff have been looking after Belka, making sure she was safe. She just stands there and watch Belka paint. An hour or two go by, before Belka takes a break and a sip from her water bottle.

“You’ve done a good job painting that.” Isa walks towards Belka.

Belka nearly jumps out of her skin when she hears Isa’s voice. She turns around and notices Isa was walking towards her.

“Thank you.” Belka hadn’t realized that Isa had followed her.

Once Isa got closer to look at the painting, it was really good. It was like she captured the scene with a high-quality camera. Belka caught all the little details in her painting.

“Are you planning on selling that one or keeping it for yourself?” Isa figured if Belka was going to sale it, she would buy it for the Palace.

“I haven’t decided yet.” Belka looks back at it and really liked it.

“Well, when you do, let me know.” A smile forms on Isa’s face.

“I will and thank you for the art supplies.” Belka found them in her room after she came up from helping in the kitchen.

“You’re welcome. I have decided to pay for your operation, when your doctor gives the okay. I know what it is like to feel uncomfortable in your own body.” Isa knew that feeling very well.

“Thank you, Isa.” Belka couldn’t wait to get her surgery.

Isa walks over to Belka and just hold her in her arms. She never thought about having children before, but if she ever did, she would want them to be like Belka.

They stay like that for a while, before Isa must head back to the Crystal Palace. She does help Belka pack everything away on the horse she rode. Belka is careful with her painting, since the paint was still wet.

She rides beside Isa as they head back to town. Belka does look over to Isa “has there been any word on why I left out in the desert?”

“None yet. Don’t dwell on why they did that to you. That’s in your past now. Concentrate what your future is going to be and let karma sort the rest out.” Isa knew from her studies of Wicca that the universe had a way of returning bad things back to the sender.

Detective Branston runs the two men images through facial recognition. Hopefully, they have a criminal record. While that program is running, he looks at the night of the Troopers that were at the scene and who filed the report. He’ll go and question them about the wreckage.

He has checked with the hospital that the other kids were staying in and they were still in a coma. Their doctor didn’t know when they might come out of it. However, the Doctor did let him know that he would contact him as soon as they came around.

After twenty minutes, his computer dings letting him know that a match had been found for the two men who took Belka. The first guy's name was Richard Anderson Miles and he had been arrested for kidnapping, extortion, physical assault, assault, and battery. He was 25 years of age and has been charged over fifteen times, but never found guilty of the charges. His partner's name comes up as Harvey Allen Scafe, he had been arrested for rape, assault, and battery, kidnapping, possession of an illegal substance and was wanted for murder. However, he managed to get off on a technical issue.

Detective Branston leans back into his chair and wonders how they were connected to the case, besides taking Belka out into the desert and leaving her to die. He writes down their current information and heads out to see if he can find them.

He couldn’t believe how hot it was as he walks towards his car. He should be used to the heat after growing up in Texas, but the heat here was different. It wasn’t like it is in Texas.

Once he was in his car, he heads towards the State Trooper Headquarters. He is hoping the troopers Captain can tell him if they are working or not.

As Detective Branston is driving, he doesn’t spot a SUV approaching from behind him at high speed. The next thing he feels is his bumper tapped hard. He loses control of his car for a second as he looks in his rear view mirror. He spots an SUV coming up from behind him. He steps on the gas but gets hit again.

He temporarily loses control but regains control of his car again. He steps on the gas pedal and tries to get out of range of the SUV chasing him. He looks in his rear view mirror as it approaches him again and slams into the rear end again. Instead of backing off, he is sent sideways by the momentum of the SUV.

The SUV hits the rear quarter panel of Detective Branston’s car, sending it off the highway and spinning into a drainage ditch that ran along the highway. The SUV stops a few feet away from Detective Branston’s SUV and the door opens. A figure wearing a black jumpsuit and a motorcycle style helmet hops out and starts walking towards the Detectives SUV.

Alejandra decided that maybe Detective Branston could help her since she was in the country illegally. Instead of driving in the desert-like she did when she busted out of her uncle’s junkyard. She decided to take the highway. Alejandra spotted a black suped up SUV blocking the road. She spots a person getting out of the SUV and aiming something at a car that was standing sideways in a ditch.

She doesn’t know if it is a smart move, but she steps on her gas pedal. She aims for the figure that looks like they had a gun. The dune buggy speeds up as she heads for the guy.

Harvey hears the motor of a vehicle coming towards him, just as he pulls the trigger on his Tec-9 semi-automatic pistol. The bullets hit the SUV bottom. He turns around to face the dune buggy coming towards him.

Alejandra dodges out of the way as the figured fired at her. Most of the bullets missed her, but one hit her in her right shoulder. She whips the dune buggy sideways and smacks the figure with the side of the dune buggy. He goes flying towards the SUV. She watches as the figure gets up and climbs into the SUV. It takes off, leaving her sitting sideways in the middle of the highway.

Alejandra drives over towards the car laying sideways in the ditch. She climbs onto the car and saw Detective Branston lying unconscious in the driver seat. He looked like he had hit his head against the windshield.

She checks his pulse to make sure he wasn’t dead. She knew better than to move him. She doesn’t know what other injuries he has. She searches his pocket and finds Detective Branston cellphone. Alejandra dials 911 and stays where she is.

“911, what is your emergency?”

“Detective Branston has been ran off the road and is unconscious. He hit his head against his windshield. His car is lying on its side in a ditch.”

“Where are you located?”

“I’m out on highway 168, about thirty miles from Mesquite Police Department.” Alejandra didn’t see anyone coming.

“Okay, ma’am. Ambulance and the Fire department are on the way.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Alejandra stays with Detective Branston till the Ambulance and Fire department arrives.

When the State Troopers show up. She gives them a driver license that was hard to read. She found it in the junkyard.

The female officer looks at her “you need a new license, ma’am.”

“Yes, ma’am. Is Detective Branston going to be okay?” Alejandra was concerned about the Detective.

She hadn’t realized that she had been shot either. Just as the officer was handing her license back to her, she falls forward towards the Police Officer.

“Medic!” Officer Kieff catches Alejandra. She searches Alejandra and finds a bullet embedded in her right shoulder.

One of the paramedics run over and helps Officer Kieff with Alejandra. She finds where Alejandra had been shot. The bullet was buried too deep in her shoulder. The paramedic packs the wound and put her in the same ambulance as Detective Branston.

Alejandra wakes up a few hours later and finds herself in a hospital room. She had an IV going into her arm, connected to a saline drip. She looks at her right shoulder and notices it was banged up. She looks down and notices she is wearing a paper hospital gown.

Alejandra hopes that ICE hasn’t been called to take her into custody. So, far the driver license she was using, has been working for her. She tries to get up, but her arm hurts.

She tries again and manages to make her way to the bathroom. It took some creative maneuvering with the Iv drip still attached to her arm. Wiping herself afterward was difficult, but she managed to do it.

When she lays back in bed and start watching the news channel. There is a story about a man that was found dead several miles away from where she and Detective Branston had been found. She does wonder how the detective is.

Detective Branston Hospital Room:
Detective Branston wakes up all of sudden and tries to move. His right arm was in a cast and his head was wrapped up. He had an Iv going into his left arm. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was seeing Alejandra looking down at him, as she called for help.

He notices the door to his room open and a young woman with short light brown hair, wearing light gray scrubs come walking in. She had a tablet in her hand.

“How long have I been out and why am I bandaged up?” Detective Branston looks at the young nurse.

“You were involved in a serious car accident detective. As for how long you have been out. You have been unconscious for the past seven hours, along with the young lady that saved you.” Nurse Clarkson was going to check on the young girl that had been brought in with the detective.

“Is she okay?” Detective Branston was concerned about Alejandra.

“She’s fine. She has a lot of bruising all over her body and she took a bullet in her right shoulder.” Nurse Clarkson wonders if the young girl had been abused.

“Where is she?”

“She’s next door to your room. Normally, we would have put her on the children’s floor, but your percent wanted her here on the same floor as
you.” Nurse Clarkson knew there was a police officer guarding her room since she witnesses the attack on Detective Branston.

The Crystal Palace:
Belka carries a tray out of the kitchen to the dining area and places the old fashion meals before the four men who ordered them. They worked over at the cattle slaughterhouse.

“Hope you gentlemen enjoy the meal.”

“We will.” Dallas gives Belka a fatherly smile. He liked the young girl and heard what happened to her. He couldn’t figure out why anyone would do what they did to her.

Belka moves on to her next table. She didn’t need to work, but after what Isa and some of the other people did for her. She wanted to repay them. She takes the family order and places it with the cook. She brings them their drinks and hands them out.

There were some new guys that come walking into the Palace and take a seat at a table. They spot Belka dress as one of the bar wrenches from the old West. They had to admit she looked cute. However, they weren’t here to admire her. They were here to finish the job they had been hired to do. She couldn’t be allowed to live.

They watch her as she moves among the different tables. A Victorian dress server comes over to their table.

“What can I get you, gentlemen?” Orfeo had spotted the men when they came in and sat down in her area of the bar.

Orfeo was one of the other women that were like Isa. She loved pretending she was a vampire from western times. She loved the fact, that Isa thought of adding the vampire theme to the Western town.

“Just beers, please.” Bill looks at their server and couldn’t believe she looked like a Victorian vampire.

“Do you want a bottle or draft?” Orfeo noticed that one of the men were watching Belka as she moved among the tables she was taking care of.

“Draft is fine.” Bill kept his attention on their waitress.

“One pitcher of draft coming up.” Orfeo heads towards the bar.

On her way, she makes a side trip towards another server she knows and motions for her to follow her. Once the two of them were never the kitchen entrance.

“Hey Julie, past the word to the other servers and the rest of our group to keep their eyes on the four men over at table twenty. Two of the men are eyeing Belka often.“ Orfeo wonders if they had something to do with her being left out in the desert.

“I’ll pass the word around.” Julia leaves Orfeo and passes the word around to the other palace servers and workers.

Isa comes down and mingle among the crowd and talk with some of the tourists that came to their town. She spots Belka working her butt off serving people. She moves among the crowd, checking the poker games going on and blackjack going on. The Faro games and Chuck a Luck games looked to be doing fine.

Orfeo returns to the table that the four men were sitting at. She pours their drinks.

“You know, you might be interested in some of the poker games going on. I know one table is looking for a fourth player.”

Bill looks at Orfeo “we’re not interested in doing any gambling or anything.”

“Okay.” Orfeo walks off, but keep her eyes on the men.

Bill tries to locate Belka but doesn’t see her. He makes one more scan of the room “Hey, did you guys see where she went?”

“No, one minute she was talking with a strange-looking woman and the next she was gone.” Chase was looking for Belka as well.

They had been told that the girl hadn’t died out in the desert-like she was supposed to. Their friend on the police force had told them a Detective was working the case. Their friend also informed them, that he had pictures of Richard and Harvey.

They had been contacted and told that the hit on the Detective hadn’t gone the way they planned. Harvey had been killed from a dune buggy hitting him. His body was dumped on the side of the road.

Their contact at the police station found out that the girl was hiding. The information was on the mark. However, they still couldn’t find her.

“Where did she disappear too?” Nate stands up and looks around for her.

“Is there someone, in particular, you gentlemen are looking for?” Isa had sneaked up on the four men.

“Yes, we’re looking for the young woman that had been taking care of that table over there. She seemed familiar and I wanted to ask her some questions.” Nate looks at Isa.

“Ah, you mean Angela. She’s done for the night. Is there anyone else you are looking for?” Isa was watching them.

She wanted to know more about them. She sent Belka to her room and had some of her people take her up the back way, instead of using the front staircase.

“No, we're fine.” Nate looks at Isa and wonders why she was so pale looking.

She was nice looking, but there was something about her. That he couldn’t put his finger on. He didn’t know what it was, but she was definitely different.

“If there is anything else you gentlemen need, feel free to ask me.” Isa smiles at them as she walks off.

She motions for Orfeo to come over to her “keep your eyes and ears on them. They are here for a reason.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Orfeo watches as Isa walks off.

Maria drives down the highway heading towards the resort town of Crystal Springs. She finally got a hit on her missing son. She has been searching for a long time for her son since his father kidnapped him and hid him from her.

Finally, an alert had come through on a program she had written to monitor the internet. It had found an image of a girl, that looked like her when she was younger. She couldn’t believe how similar the girl looked to her. She found out that the girl was living in a resort town called
Crystal Springs. She did some research about the place. She found out it had been restored about five years ago. The first building restored had been an old-fashioned saloon called The Crystal Palace.

The land the town sat on belonged to the Native American tribe in the area. She follows the GPS directions to the town. She was stopped at the gate that leads to the huge parking lot.

“Greetings and welcome to Crystal Springs. You can park your vehicle here and take the next stagecoach into town.”

“How much is parking, sir.”

“There is no charge if you plan on doing just shopping and just visit for a day. If you plan on living here, arrangements will be made for your storage fee.”

“Thank you.” Maria watches as the barrier is lifted.

Once it is all the way up. She finds several parking spaces available and parks her car. She spotted signs that directed here to an old fashion looking train depot. She takes her purse and the file she had was upload to her Surface Pro 6 tablet.

While she is waiting for the stagecoach to arrive. Several other people and a couple of family members joined her. The stagecoach shows up and after everyone is inside it. The driver takes the scenic route into town.

Maria couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her daughter was here in the resort. She wonders what she does and how to approach her. After about fifteen minutes, the stagecoach stops at an identical rail station.

“Welcome to the old West.” The driver announces as the stagecoach stops.

Maria gets out of the stagecoach and looks around. The place certainly took you back to the old West. She spots The Crystal Palace and starts heading over towards it. She could hear music and laughter coming from inside the place.

Maria walks in and could see why this place was so popular. The saloon girls were dressed in the old fashioned clothes of the day. Some of them looked like they might be the gothic of the times. She walks further into the place and could hear someone on the stage, telling jokes.

The place looked busy for an afternoon crowd. She noticed that some of the patrons were dress in period clothing. The others were dressed like her and the other visitors to the place. She spots the girl she was looking for. She was wearing a nice light blue period dress and was doing a drawing of a person.

Maria stands and just watches her. She starts laughing because of a joke that had been told. She couldn’t get over the fact how cute her daughter looked and wonders how she ended up at the Crystal Palace.

“Is there anything I can do for you, ma’am?” April had spotted an older woman wearing dress slacks and a nice blouse standing near the gaming table looking over towards the small stage.

“I’m sorry, I’m looking for a table over near the stage. Also, who do I talk to about getting a room for a couple of nights as well?” Maria figures she could spend a few days getting to know her new daughter.

“That would be the Innkeeper and I can get her for you.” April goes and looks for Orfeo.

“Hey Orfeo, I have a woman who would like a room for a few nights.”

“Okay, room 8 is available and gives a nice view of the gardens.” Orfeo was happy that Isa was able to get the land behind them and turned it
into a botanical garden.

“Okay, I’ll inform her.” April heads back to Maria. She was still standing where she left them.

Maria continues to watch Belka while April is away. No sooner does Belka gets done with the one picture, another person sits down for another commission. She wonders, why her baby was here?

“Ma’am, we have a room available. It looks over our new botanical gardens.”

“How much is it for a night?” Maria looks in April.

“$65.00 dollars a night. That includes your breakfast and dinner for both days.”

“Do you take credit cards or this place strictly cash?”

“We take both.” April pulls out the credit reader and scans the card.

Maria hands over her card to April. She watches as April slides the card through “please enter your pin.” April turns her head away for Maria to enter the code.

Maria looks at the new card reader. She knew Europe used them, but she didn’t know places in America did. She types her pin in.

“Okay, you can look.” A smile appears on Maria’s face.

April turns around and finishes the transaction. She prints a receipt out and hands it to Maria.

“Here’s your receipt, ma’am.” April hands the receipt to Maria.

“Thank you. Now, do you think there is a table available near the stage?” Maria wanted to be able to see Belka.

“I think I can find you one.” April looks for a table and finds one that only needed to be cleaned.

She takes care of the table quickly. Once it was cleaned, she pulls the chair out for Maria.

“Thank you" Maria sits down at the table.

"Here is a menu of what we serve here if you didn’t see the signs when you walked in.” April hands Maria a single sheet of 8.5 x 11 menu.

Maria accepts it and looks over the menu. All the items look to be simple and what you would find in a saloon during the old West. She chooses a simple cobb salad to eat.

Detective Branston Hospital Room:
Alejandra was finally allowed to visit Detective Branston. She knocks lightly on his hospital room door.

“Enter!” Branston was just laying in bed trying to figure out who attacked him and why.

Alejandra walks into the hospital room. The pain pills they gave her for the bullet wound was numbing it.

“What happened to you?” Branston remembered seeing Alejandra before he passed out.

“I took a bullet from one of your attackers. He was heading over to finish you off when I smacked him with my dune buggy.” Alejandra sits in
the chair next to his bed.

“Does your uncle know you are here?”

“I hope not. He was treating me and several other immigrants as his personal sex slave and as slaves as well. So, I ran away from him in the dune buggy I rebuilt.”

“I suspected something was off when you didn’t speak to me and the rags you were wearing.” Branston had been concerned, but he wasn’t able to do anything for Alejandra at the time.

“I didn’t have any clothes when I came to him. So, I wore whatever I could find in some of the cars I found. I do have a question for you. Who were those men trying to kill you?” Alejandra was curious.

“I don’t know who they were or why they came after me. Which brings up the question, why were you there?” Branston looks at Alejandra.

“I was coming to see you. I was hoping you could help me.”

“Help you do what? Become a citizen?”

“No, I was hoping you could arrest my uncle for what he is doing to immigrants and underage children?” Alejandra knew her uncle was making
money off every immigrant he brought in and ransom their families.

“It’s going to have to wait until I finish this current case.” Branston was wondering who knew he was working on this case.

“How about, I tell you who the State Troopers were that called my uncle that night?” Alejandra knew who the officers were.

“Okay, you have my interest now.” Branston couldn’t believe his luck.

“Good.”

Detective Branston’s House:
Alejandra and Detective Branston had spent a few days in the hospital and were released. Alejandra’s dune buggy was returned to her, thanks to Detective Branston pulling a few strings for her. When they arrived at his apartment on the day of their release, it was a mess. It looked like someone had come in and searched it. The hard drive from his desktop computer was missing.

“Damn, it looks like someone had fun here.” Alejandra looked at the mess.

“They must have been looking for the case file I’m working on.”

“Why? Why would they think you would have it here at your place?” Alejandra looks towards Detective Branston.

“Because they figured I would be dumb enough to work at home on the case.” Branston starts cleaning the place up.

Alejandra helps Detective Branston to clean his place up. She wonders if the people were going to come back?

“Do you think they will be back?” Alejandra finds the vacuum cleaner and plugs it in.

“No, they wouldn’t be that stupid.”

Alejandra vacuums the apartment and once she was done doing that. She goes into the kitchen and starts cleaning it up. It takes them a good few hours to get the place in order. Afterward, Detective Branston takes Alejandra to Paula’s Chicken Shack and order a bucket of chicken for the two of them.

“I have to admit; this place has some good chicken.” Alejandra was on her fifth piece of chicken.

“That it does. So, what do you know about the State Troopers and the accident?” Detective Branston looks at Alejandra as she eats the meat
off a drum stick.

Alejandra looks at Mr. Branston “well, trooper Cuthbertson and trooper Heyde were the ones who set up the accident. I don’t know who the
people were that attack you, but the troopers have been working with my uncle since I arrived in the states.”

“What do they get out of it?” Detective Branston had his recorder turned on, on his cell phone.

“Money, lots and lots of money. They also help him make sure the drug shipments he is expecting arrives without any problems.”

“So, you’re saying they knew those kids?” Sebastian continues to watch Alejandra eat.

“Yep, they knew those kids and they knew the kids had won the lottery as well. Why do you think they arranged for the accident?” Alejandra
saw her uncle and the two troopers split the money they pulled out of the SUV.

“How does Belka Ann Karlen fit into this?”

“I don’t know her. All I know about is what trooper Cuthbertson and trooper Heyde did.” Alejandra wonders who this Belka Ann Karlen person is. She finishes eating the chicken piece she had grabbed. The hospital tried to put some weight on her, but they weren’t successful.

Sebastian was amazed at how many pieces of chicken, Alejandra managed to put away. He figures she must have been starved half the time when she was her uncle’s captive.

On the way home, Detective Branston stops at a local Walmart and bought some clean clothes for Alejandra to wear. He picks up a few items for himself.

Once they are done shopping, they head back to his place.

The Crystal Palace:
Maria had a hard time sleeping last night. She was so excited that she finally found her baby after ten years of searching for her. Her husband had taken their child and hid her from her. All because she wanted a divorce from him. She had caught him, screwing a younger woman in their bed. She knew he had been cheating on her and she was fine with it, as long as he didn’t bring it into their home.

However, the day she caught him in their bedroom with the other woman. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She called the police and had the woman arrested and threw her husband out of the house. The house was in her name, so he couldn’t do anything.

The day they were going to court, because of the incident. Her husband had their son picked up from school and that was the last she saw of him. She had hired private Detectives and such to find him, but as soon as they got close to where her son was. Her son would be moved.

She gets up out of bed and heads down towards the baths. She bumps into Belka on her way to the baths.

“I’m sorry ma’am. Are you alright?” Belka was restocking the towels, washcloths and the home-made soap the Palace sold.

Maria looks at Belka when she speaks to her “I’m fine.”

“Good. Are you getting ready to take a bath?” Belka noticed the woman standing in front of her had a towel and her bathing things.

“Yes, are the tubs here like they were back in the old West?”

“A smile appears on Belka’s face “yes, and no. We have the modern tubs where you can take a shower first and then relax in a tub filled with
hot water or you can use the old fashion galvanized steel tubs. Either one, are nice to use.” A smile appears on Belka’s face.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Belka finishes restocking the linen closet and head upstairs to the kitchen to help in there.

Maria watches as her daughter walk off. She wants to tell her that she is her mother but is worried that she might not believe her. She heads into the baths and uses the bathtub where she could shower and soak in the tub.

Belka enters the kitchen and put on a hairnet and apron. They were cooking a whole side of a cow.

“You ready to learn how to cook this meat?” Ginger looks at Belka as she came walking over to the fire pit.

“Yep, I can’t wait.” Belka was in a good mood because Isa said she heard back from the council and there was a scholarship available she could apply for.

“So far, she has found four of them she applied for. One of them was, for her being a foster kid, then there was one for her being a girl. There
was another one where she had to submit some of her artwork, and if her work was accepted, she would receive a scholarship. The last one, she had to write an essay for the scholarship and submit it.

Ginger puts Belka to work mixing the spices and showing her how she wanted them rubbed on starting off, and then afterward, mopped on. While Belka was tending to the cow, Ginger works on another dish for dinner.

Belka checks how she looks in the full-size mirror in her bedroom. The clothes she was wearing, might be from the1800’s but she loved wearing them. Today, she had on a corset under her blouse. Tina down at the clothing store showed her how to put it on and adjusted it for her.
The boning of the corset was soft, so she didn’t have to worry about the corset cutting off her breathing. She checks her long skirt to make sure it was straight. She slips her brown boots on and checks herself one more time, before leaving her room.

She had a bunch of items that needed to be mailed off to one of the schools she applied at. They wanted examples of her artwork. So, she was sending them several portraits, and landscape pieces she did. She hopes they like them.

The line at the post office was short and she didn’t have to wait long. As she approaches the counter, she noticed old man Harris manning the counter.

“Good morning, Mr. Harris. How has your morning been?” Belka liked Mr. Harris.

Since she has been staying at the Crystal Palace, she has gotten to know some of the residents of the town. A lot of the residents that stayed and lived in the town, came because they loved the idea of living the lifestyle of the 1800s. The others came because they enjoyed the idea of going back in time. Mr. Harris loved living in town, because he enjoyed the time period and liked owning the only post office in town. He had a few young people that enjoyed working for him. He was a fair and honest boss.

“It’s been kind of slow lately, but it should pick up later. What’s with all the packages?” Mr. Harris noticed Belka had a bunch of packages to ship off.

Isa let Belka wrap all her items last night to ship off today. It took her a while, but once she got the hang of wrapping them. It went faster.

"Some of the colleges I’m applying to, want samples of my work. So, I’m sending them samples of my work.”

“Are they going to return them to you if you’re not accepted?” Mr. Harris couldn’t see sending the stuff off and not having them returned to you if you’re not accepted.

“You know, I don’t know. That is a good question.” Belka hadn’t thought of that.

“Well, I hope they at least ask you.”

“It would be nice if they did.”

“Well, I hope you get accepted. Your artwork is really good.”

“Thank you, Mr. Harris.”

“You’re welcome, kiddo. Now, let’s see how much all this will come too.” Mr. Harris starts pricing everything for Belka.

Isa had said if she didn’t have enough to pay for the shipping, too put it on her account and she would pay for it. The cost to ship the packages was less then Belka thought it would be. She managed to have some money left over, which she was going to put towards a nice treat for herself.

“Looks like you made out, Belka.” Mr. Harris smiles at Belka.

“You’re right, Mr. Harris and I am going to go and splurge on a nice Sundae down at Sinclair’s.” Belka was thinking about the prairie wagon sundae down at Sinclair’s ice cream parlor.

The ice cream parlor was one of the odd shops in the old western town. It was a big hit with the tourist. Mr. and Mrs. Collins created a unique menu of treats, that you couldn’t find anywhere else.

Once Belka leaves the post office, she heads over towards Sinclair’s. Just thinking about what she wanted was making her mouth water. She didn’t notice the woman she ran into the other day watching her from The Crystal Palace.

Maria had woken up late and gotten dressed to go downstairs, to see if she could find her child. She knew from talking to some of the women that worked the saloon, that Belka had left The Crystal Palace and went over towards the post office.

As she walked out of the Palace, she spots her daughter walking out of the Post Office and heading in the direction of the ice pallor, which is on the same side of the street across from the Palace. There were several other shops between the Post Office and the pallor.

She just watches as her daughter walks and greets some of the people as she passes them. She was mad that her husband took her child away from her. She missed out on so much of her life. She continues to watch Belka.

Detective Branston’s House:
Alejandra wakes up and looks up at the ceiling in the bedroom she slept in last night. She felt so refresh and energized. For the first time in her life, since coming to America, she didn’t have to sleep with one eye opened, like she uses to do. On top of that, she loved that she finally had some clean clothes to wear and fresh underwear as well.

She gets out of bed and grabs the house robe, detective Branston bought her the other night. She heads towards the kitchen to grab some breakfast. Detective Branston was still on medical leave from work.

She pours herself some cereal and a glass of juice as well. She was thankful to detective Branston for buying food for them. She was also thankful that he didn’t mind her eating any of the food. She sits at the counter in his kitchen and enjoys her breakfast.

Detective Branston wakes up and heads towards the bathroom to do his morning business. He still was feeling a little pain from his injuries. After he was done in the bathroom and cleaned his hands afterward, he heads towards the kitchen to fix himself a cup of coffee. He was still in his boxers and the t-shirt he wore to bed last night, after getting back from Walmart.

As he walks into the kitchen, he spots Alejandra sitting at the counter eating cereal and drinking juice. A smile appears on his face as he walks in.

“You’re up early.” As he walks over to the coffee machine.

“I slept really well last night. That bed in your spare bedroom felt nice.” Alejandra looks over towards Detective Branston.

“I’m glad you slept good last night.” Branston takes a sip of his coffee when it was done brewing.

“So, what is on the agenda for today?” Alejandra wonders what detective Branston has planned for them.

“I don’t know yet. There are still too many unanswered questions.” Branston takes a sip of his coffee.

“Well, if you don’t mind. I was thinking about looking over my dune buggy. I think something came loose on it.” Alejandra felt a vibration in it the other day.

“There are tools in the garage you can use. I don’t have much, but what I do have, you’re welcome too.”

“Thank you.”

“Any time. I do have a question for you. Where did you learn how to work on cars?”

“In my uncle’s junkyard. After locating and taking parts off cars and such. I would watch and learn from the mechanics that worked for my uncle. Some of them were lazy and such. So, they started teaching me what they knew about cars. They would let me do all the work, and they would take the praise and credit from my uncle. He thought I was letting them have sex with me. He didn’t realize I was learning from them.” She was happy her uncle never learned the truth. If he had, she wouldn’t have been able to rebuild the dune buggy as she did.

“Well, I’m going to work on the dune buggy. So, if you need me for anything, let me know.”

Alejandra gets up and rinses her bowl and glass out.

“Alright, I’ll be in my office going over my notes.” Branston heads towards his office to look over the notes he had when he went into the hospital. He kept them hidden, so no one would find them.

Alejandra turns the portable air tank on. The air from the tank flows to the built-in jacks to lift the dune buggy up off the ground. Once the buggy was off the ground, she secures the jacks. They would hold the buggy off the ground, while she locates where the vibration had been coming from. So, that she wouldn’t get her new clothes dirty, she slipped on a pair of work coveralls she had stored in the buggy.

Alejandra shakes each wheel as she checks for the vibration. After checking the rear end, she moves towards the front and on the passenger side, she locates the problem. There was a bolt poking through the thread of the tire.

She grabs her pliers and the tire plugging kit. She manages to pull the bolt out and insert the probe to ream the hole and twist the metal wires in the steel belting. While the probe plugs the hole, she takes the tires plug and applies a little bit of rubber cement to it. The rubber cement would help seal the hole with the rubber strip in it.

She quickly removes the probe and pushes the plug into the hole. The plug was fighting her, as she pushed it into the hole. She pushes harder and finally, it starts squeezing into the hole. She keeps pushing the plug until there is only a fingernail width sticking out of the tire.

She pulls the plugger out and uses a box opener to cut the excess off. Since she was finished with the tire, she pulled the tire off and refills the tire with air from the air tank. She also checks the braking system and suspension while she was at it.

While Alejandra is looking over her buggy, she wonders what detective Branston was going to do about those crooked State Troopers. After all the things they have done, they belong in jail. She puts the wheel back on and cleans up the mess she made.

Once everything was cleaned, she pulls the pins and let the jacks lower the buggy down to the ground. She wipes her hand on a clean rag she keeps in the dune buggy. Alejandra walks back inside the house and doesn’t see Detective Branston anywhere. Which meant to her that he must be in his home office. She grabs a cold bottled water from the refrigerator and takes a sip from it, as she heads towards his office.

She notices the door was shut as she approaches it. She knocks on it softly. The last time she barged into her uncle’s office. He had one of the other women that had been smuggled into the country with her, bent over his desk and was fucking her ass. After he was done with that woman, he made her clean his cock off.

“Enter!”

Alejandra enters Branston’s office and noticed he was looking at the thumb drive he had been given. She walks over and plop’s down in the spare chair in front of his desk.

“Any luck?” Alejandra takes a sip of water from her bottle.

“No, unfortunately.” Branston looks at Alejandra.

He was getting frustrated with this case. He also didn’t like the fact that whoever came after him, tried to kill him. A thought entered his mind, as he looks at Alejandra.

“Alejandra, how did your uncle get a hold of the State Troopers that worked with him?” Branston was creating a plan.

“He just called them on a cellphone he keeps on him. It’s not the same one he uses all the time, but a different one.” Alejandra remembered seeing it a couple of days ago.

“Do you happen to know the number of it?”

“No sir, he always kept it on him. However, there might be a way to get in touch with them. They have a favorite diner that they like to stop at, because of one of the waitresses that works there. They both are trying to get into her panties.” Alejandra saw them down there one day when she went with one of the yard workers to pick-up lunch.

“Do you remember her name?” Branston had an idea in mind.

“I think her name was Tammy. She has short brown hair and a nice figure. Her uniform hugs her body.”

“What’s the name of the diner?”

“It’s called the Silver Bullet. Its only ten miles north of the junkyard.”

“I think it might be a good idea to pay it a visit.” Sebastian figures he could learn more about the two State troopers.

“Just be careful. Rumor has it, that the last person that came after them, ended up buried out in the desert.” Alejandra had been threatened by her uncle that he would have them do the same to her.

“You’re coming with me, to act as my lookout.”

“Are you sure that is wise?” Alejandra was a little concerned about that.

“Don’t worry, no one is going to see you. I know where we can get a conversion van.” Sebastian knew the police compound had a conversion van with tinted windows. Alejandra could watch him in safety with a camera.

“Okay.” Alejandra wonders what Sebastian had planned.

“Trust me, this will work. Now, let's go and get some lunch and pick the van up.” Sebastian grabs his car keys and heads towards his car with Alejandra following behind him.

Crystal Palace:

“You seem to have an interest in our little Belka.” Isa had noticed that their new guest, Maria has been watching Belka.

Maria turns around when she hears Isa’s voice coming from behind her. She was startled that someone has caught her watching Belka.

“She’s an interesting girl. How did she end up here?” Maria was curious.

“Someone left her out in the desert to die.”

“Doesn’t she have a family?” Maria looks into Isa’s eyes.

“Yes, but we suspect they are behind what happened to her. The question I have, why are you so curious about her?” Isa raises an eyebrow.

“Is there somewhere we can talk in private?” Maria didn’t feel comfortable talking about her problem in public.

“There is. If you’ll follow me.” Isa turns around and heads for the downstairs manager's office.
Maria follows behind Isa. She notices that Isa was very pale as if she didn’t go out in the sun much. They stop in front of a door that had manager on a plaque that had manager engraved on it.

“So, this is where you hide from customers?” As Maria enters the office behind Isa. She shuts the door behind her.

Isa sits down in an old antique armchair in the office. A smile appears on her face “actually, I like my customers and learning where they came from.”

“Oh, I’m sorry if I sounded insulting.” Maria didn’t know Isa felt that way towards her customers.

“It’s alright, now why don’t you tell me why you're interested in Belka?” Isa was curious why this woman kept watching Belka.

Members of her staff and herself had observed how Maria watched Belka whenever she could. They didn’t know if it was because the woman was interested in her because Belka was cute. Or, there were other things the woman had planned for Belka.

Maria takes a deep breath and started explaining things to Isa about why she was so interested in Belka. She explained to her, how her husband had taken their young son away from her because she wanted to divorce him. He didn’t want her to get custody of their child and managed to place him in foster care. She hired detectives to locate him, but every time they got close to his location. They would transfer her son to another couple.

Now that she has found her son/daughter, she doesn’t know how to approach Belka and tell her. That’s why she has been following Belka and wondering how to explain everything to her.

“Belka doesn’t know about any of this?” Isa was curious.

“No, Belka doesn’t know any of this and I don’t know what lies she had been told.”

Isa just looks at Maria and wonders what she could do to help. After a few minutes “I think it might be best if you explain things to Belka. She would really appreciate knowing that people love her. The family she had been staying with, abandoned her.”

“When do you think it might be a good time to speak to her?” Maria really wanted her baby back.

“Let me set-up a little tea for the two of you, later this afternoon. You can use one of the parlor’s at the Desert Rose.”

“You own that as well?” Maria was surprised.

A smile appears on Isa’s face “yes, I’m the owner of that as well.”

“Thank you.” Tears were leaking out of Maria’s eyes.

Isa hands some tissue to Maria.

“Thank you.” Maria takes a few.

Maria and Isa spend some time in the office afterward. Isa showed Maria upon how they found her and what they had learned so far.

Crystal Palace:
Isa spots Belka coming back to the palace. She waves her over towards her. She could tell that Belka was in a good mood.

“What’s up Isa?” Belka was curious about why Isa waved her over.

“There’s someone I would like you to meet.” Isa had a smile on her face.

“Who is this person?”

“She’s a guest here and she has a lot in common with you.” Isa didn’t want to spoil the surprise.

“Okay, where is she?”

“She’s waiting for you in parlor room 1. I’ll bring a tray of a fresh pot of tea for the two of you.” Isa hopes things work out between Belka and Maria.

Isa escorts Belka to parlor 1. When they arrive at the room, Isa knocks on the closed door.

“Enter.” Maria has been sitting inside the room waiting, while Isa went to find Belka.

She has been going over what she wanted to say to her son/daughter. She has been hoping for this day, for a very long time. Maria looks up as the door opens and the young girl, she has been watching comes walking in. Behind her was Isa.

Belka saw the woman she noticed yesterday sitting at the table as she walks in. She extends her hand out to the woman “hi, I’m Belka Karlen.”
Maria stands up and shakes Belka’s hand “I’m Maria Morrison, Belka. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Why don’t the two of you make yourself comfortable, while I go and prepare a tray of snacks and bring in some tea and cups for you.” A pleasant smile appears on Isa’s face.

“Okay.” Belka sits down across from Maria.

Isa backs out of the room and closes the door. She hopes things will work out for Maria and Belka. She heads towards the kitchen to fix a tray for Belka and Maria.

Belka looks over at Maria “Isa said you and I have a lot in common. What did she mean?”

Maria takes a deep breath “Belka, what do you know about your birth parents?”

“Nothing, except I was left at my first foster family’s doorstep. Why are you asking?” Belka was curious about why Maria was asking her about her birth family.

“How many foster families have you had since that day?”

“Seven. It seemed every two years or so I was being passed off to a new family, without any explanation on what I did wrong. You still haven’t answered my question on why you are asking?” Belka wanted to know why Maria was concerned.

“Because Belka, I’m your birth mother. You were taken from me by your father because I caught him with another woman and was going to
divorce him. It wasn’t the first time I caught him with another woman either.” Maria noticed that Belka was stunned by her admission that she was her mother.

Belka sat there stunned by the admission that Maria had just told her. She had been told that her parents had abandoned her. That they couldn’t afford to raise her or want her. They even showed her a letter reinforcing what they said.

“How do I know you are telling the truth? Anyone can claim to be my mother.” Belka was suspicious.

Before Maria could respond to Belka's question, there was a knock on the parlor door.

“Enter!”

Isa walks in with a tray filled with a porcelain teapot and two cups, saucers, silver spoons, sugar and honey containers. She walks over and sets the tray on the table and pour tea into each teacup.

“I hope you ladies enjoy the tea. It’s an herbal blend. Also, you might enjoy the finger sandwiches as well.”

“Thank you, Isa.” Belka looks up at Isa.

Isa just smiles and winks at Belka. She turns around and walks out of the parlor. She hopes Belka and Maria can come together as mother and daughter.

Maria looks back at Belka “I have your birth certificate and I know for a fact you have a birthmark in the shape of a square on the lower part of your back. You were born in Denver, Colorado on September 14 at one in the morning. I was in labor with you for twelve hours.”

Maria remembered that night because her husband had come to the hospital late. She had been taken to the hospital by their driver.

“Why did my father take me away from you?” Belka wanted to know the truth.

“Your father took you from me, to hurt me. He knew how much you meant to me. He never wanted children, because he knew I would devote my time to you, and he didn’t like it. So, to hurt me he took you and gave you to people who pretended to be your foster parents. He would pay them to take care of you. The reason you bounced between families, was every time I got close to learning where you were. He would get the word about it and send you to another family. He would change all your records, so I couldn’t find you again.”

“How did you find me, now?” Belka was curious about that.

“I wrote a program to search through all the news articles about you. Someone did a news article about an unknown girl being found out in the desert. The description they give matched the last picture I had of you.” Maria reaches into her pocket and brings up a picture of Belka. Maria shows Belka the picture.

Belka looks at the picture “that picture was from a couple of months ago, before my prom.”

Tears were starting to form and slide down Belka’s cheek. Belka couldn’t believe her father would do something like this to her. Why would any father do this to their child?

Belka gets up and rushes over to her mother and wrap her arms around her. She buries her face against her mothers’ shoulder and cries. She has always wanted to know why her parents left her.

Maria holds her daughter, as tears came from her eyes and slide down her cheeks. She holds Belka close to her and is thankful she finally found her baby. Her husband needs to pay for hurting their daughter.

The rest of the afternoon Maria and Belka get to know each other. Belka finds out that everything she had been told was lies. She finds out that her father was the CEO of a technology company.

Alejandra sits at Detective Branston’s desk looking at the computer. He had left it on for her, while he went to lay down for a while. She was curious about the name of the person on the driver's license she has been using since she left her uncle’s junkyard.

She types in the name from the license and sees what Google finds on her. Several results appear and they show her as being missing. According to the information she found about the woman, who she was using the driver’s license. The woman was an exotic dancer and had gone missing several years ago.

According to the police report, the woman was leaving the club she worked at and never arrived home. Alejandra knew, the car she found the driver license in, had been in the yard for a while. According to the mechanics in the yard, the two-state troopers who Detective Branston was investigating. They were the ones responsible for the car being in the yard.

She continues to research the person’s whose identity she was assuming. It was a good thing the picture on the driver’s license card was like her. There were some differences, but they shared some of the same facial features. Also, the woman she was impersonating was older than her. She looks at the driver's license and was thankful, the picture was a little faded.

As for the person whose id she had. She wonders what happened to her. What did trooper Cuthbertson and trooper Heyde do to her? She leans back in the leather office chair. She knows Detective Branston is going to want to do surveillance on the two troopers before he arrests them.

She also wonders who the other girl was as well. Detective Branston had mentioned her, but she didn’t know much about her. She was tempted to go through Detective Branston’s notes, but she wouldn’t do that. He was trusting her to stay out of his police records and such. She closes her search history and heads into the kitchen to fix herself some ramen noodles.

After Alejandra finishes her noodles. She heads into the spare bedroom she has been sleeping in and set the alarm clock to wake her in a few hours. She told Detective Branston she would help him with the surveillance of the troopers. While she drifts off to sleep, she wonders if they will be at the diner, they like so much.

Later in The Evening:
Alejandra sits in the back of the conversion van and watches as the two-state troopers sat at their favorite spots inside the diner. They were so stupid sitting in a booth near a glass window. The cameras built into the conversion van were hidden. They got a clear view of the two troopers.

“We need to find Alejandra for Francisco. He has a buyer that wants her. I bet her new buyer will break her in every night.”

“I never thought Francisco would sell his own niece.”

“After she freed all the other immigrants he was holding. He wants to get something back. You know that greedy bastard. He’s even trying to increase his cut from us.” Cuthbertson was starting to plan on how to get rid of Francisco.

“We need him right now until we can find a replacement. His yard is a perfect place to get rid of the vehicles and bodies.” Heyde didn’t like it, but Francisco served a purpose.

“Yeah, we can’t leave them out in desert anymore. That Belka girl and that detective on the Indian reservation has ruined that for us.” Cuthbertson thought for sure, that they gave that Belka girl enough drug to kill her.

Cuthbertson knew Belka’s father wasn’t going to be happy that she was still alive. The thing was, he should have taken matters into his own
hands. He’ll have to come down here now to deal with his wife and daughter if they can find them.

“Can you believe they are responsible for killing people?” Alejandra looks towards Detective Branston.

“We need to find out who their victims were.” Branston looks towards Alejandra.

“If they were using my uncle’s junkyard to get rid of the bodies, that’s not going to be possible. Any car that goes to the compactor gets crushed and then shipped off to a steel mill to be melted down. There would be no trace of the body no more.” Alejandra remembers asking the guys where the crushed cars went.

“Well, that’s no help.” Branston and Alejandra just continued to watch and listen to the two troopers.

The Troopers stay for about an hour at the diner. The information that Alejandra had given Detective Branston about the one waitress that both troopers were interested in, turn out to be true. When the troopers leave the diner.

Detective Branston follows one of them. He watches as the trooper takes up a spot to monitor the traffic coming down the highway.

“So, what is the plan now? We know they are after me, because of my uncle and they don’t know where that Belka girl and her mother are.” Alejandra looks at Detective Branston.

“Let’s set a trap for them. How fast is your dune buggy?” Detective Branston looks back at Alejandra.

“Pretty fast. It won’t be able to outrun those police cruiser on the highway, but I can outrun them off-road.” Alejandra was pretty sure she could beat them off-road.

She knew those cruisers weren’t set up for off-road driving. She figures her dune buggy could outmaneuver the police cruisers.

“Let’s plan on setting the trap in the next few days.” Branston wanted to find the perfect place to spring the trap.

“Okay, I’ll go over my dune buggy and make sure it’s ready.” A playful smile appears on Alejandra’s face.

Branston smile as he turns the van around and head back to his place.

The next few days Branston and Alejandra kept track of Trooper Cuthbertson and Trooper Heyde. They were finding out where they liked to park to trap speeders and when they break for meals and such. They also learned where both troopers lived as well.

When they weren’t tracking and tailing trooper Cuthbertson and trooper Heyde. Detective Branston works with Alejandra on her dune buggy. He was impressed that she was able to put it together under her uncle’s nose.

He looks over at Alejandra “how did you manage to collect all the parts you needed to restore this dune buggy?”

“Easy, my uncle has a big junkyard and most of the time he ignored me. So, during those times I would look for parts I needed to put the dune buggy back to together. If I had any questions or needed advice about something. I played the dumb girl card and the mechanics would help me out.” Alejandra hated acting stupid to get what she wanted. She knew there were times you had to play to the prejudice or ignorance
people have about girls and cars.

“Your uncle should have paid more attention to you. Most people aren’t as lucky you were.”

“If I had the type of figure he loved, he would be fucking me as much as possible. He has a sex problem and I think he has some sort of sexually transmitted disease.” Alejandra felt sorry for some of the girls that were forced to have sex with her uncle. They might have whatever disease her uncle has now.

“Is there anything wrong with the dune buggy?”

“Nope, he’s ready to play with the troopers.” Alejandra was ready to give those troopers hell.

She added a NOS system to the buggy’s fuel system for extra speed. She was going to need it on the open highway because the troopers patrol cars had more powerful engines in them.

Alejandra looks up “I’m as ready as I can be. When do you want to do this?”

Detective Branston looks at his wristwatch. He still prefers wearing the old style of watches, instead of the new digital style.

“We’ll head out around eleven tonight. We know where they will be and if nothing else, you can be the bait to lure them where we want them to be. “

“Oh, great. That will be fun.” Alejandra already knew she was the bait. That was the only way the plan was going to work.

Alejandra and Detective Branston heads inside his house and grab some lunch. Branston makes BLT sandwiches for everyone for lunch.
Afterward, Detective Branston heads to his office to talk to the Sheriff at Crystal Springs. He had a lead on the four men that were involved with the young woman’s abandonment.

Sheriff’s Office, Crystal Springs, Nevada:
Sheriff Markus had gotten word that four gentlemen at the Crystal Palace had taken an interest in Ms. Belka Karlen. He also received word from Isa that Belka’s birth mother had shown up. As he is sitting there going over the information Isa and her people provided to him. His office phone starts ringing.

He picks it up “Sheriff Markus, Crystal Spring Sheriff’s department. How can I help you?”

“Sheriff Markus, its Detective Branston, have you come across any information concerning Ms. Karlen?”

“I have. The men responsible for kidnapping Belka Karlen are in town looking for her. I was about to round them up?” Sheriff Markus and a few
of his men were about to arrest the men responsible for almost killing Belka.

“Alright, I have a lead on two state troopers responsible for covering up the accident Ms. Karlen's friends had.” Detective Branston couldn’t believe how two lawmen could be so corrupt.

“Good hunting.” Sheriff Markus was going to need extra help apprehending the four men he was after.

“You too.” Detective Branston ends the call.

He goes and checks on Alejandra to see what she was up too. He finds her in her bedroom sound asleep. He just stands there and feels sorry for her. He’ll have to come up with a way to make it legal for her to stay in the States.

He slowly shuts her bedroom door. He heads back to his office to look at the place they planned on ambushing the troopers tonight. All Alejandra must do, is get them to follow her and chase her to the spot. He’ll be waiting to take them in. He’ll be recording them with a camera. She’ll have to let them at least manhandle her, so the evidence will stand up in court.

Later in the Evening:
Alejandra speeds down the highway where trooper Cuthbertson was sitting. She smiles as she stops in front of him and tosses a water balloon filled with paint. She waves afterward and speeds off. She monitors the radio to see if Cuthbertson was going to contact trooper Heyde.

Trooper Cuthbertson was sitting at his normal spot waiting for someone to come speeding by him. He spotted a set of lights coming towards him and watched as it stopped in front of him. He noticed that it was Francisco’s niece in some sort of dune buggy. He watched as she reached down and throw something at him. His front windshield was covered by water down paint.

She waves at him as she takes off down the highway. After a few minutes, Alejandra hears Trooper Cuthbertson calling for Trooper Heyde and letting him know he spotted Alejandra and they were heading his way.

“Come on boys, let's play follow the leader.” Alejandra steps on the gas pedal.

She wasn’t too far from where the ambush was scheduled to take place. She listens as Trooper Cuthbertson and Trooper Heyde
communicated over cellphones. The equipment she had was able to pick up cellular signals.

After a while, she spots Trooper Heyde coming towards her. The dumb bastard had his lights going, just like Trooper Cuthbertson. She notices Trooper Cuthbertson catching up to her. She turns her NOS system on and presses a button.

This was the first time she has used the system and was surprised by the boost of speed she got. She pulled ahead of Trooper Cuthbertson and smiled. She was loving the boost of speed.

Trooper Cuthbertson couldn’t believe how fast Alejandra was going. Just as he thought he was going to get her; she pulls ahead of him. He increases his speed to catch her.

“Come on boys, let's have some fun.” Alejandra turns off the highway and onto the place she and Branston had chosen.

She watches as they chase her into the desert. She increases her speed and takes the ground like it was nothing. Her dune buggy handles the terrain like it was born to do.

She glances back behind her and spotted both Troopers behind her. She speeds around them, teasing them.

“Now, let's see how well you guys drive.” Alejandra places a game of tag with them.

Trooper Heyde crashes into a boulder he failed to avoid. The airbag in his patrol car goes off. He climbs out of his patrol car and starts shooting at Alejandra.

Detective Branston was nearby all set-up with a camera outfitted to recorded in the dark. He was getting everything as Alejandra played and toyed with Troopers. He watches as she avoids getting hit from Trooper Heyde’s gun.

Trooper Cuthbertson couldn’t believe how Alejandra took out his partner. He keeps chasing after her. He was having a hard time controlling his patrol car. He didn’t use the rough terrain.

The next thing he knows the ground gives out from under the front of his patrol car. He goes nose-first into a ditch.

Alejandra turns around and points the front of her dune buggy towards Troopers Cuthbertson’s patrol car. She watches as he tries to get out of his patrol car.

“What’s wrong, can’t get out of your car?” Alejandra had a smile on her face.

Trooper Heyde aimed at Alejandra and just as he was about to pull the trigger.

“I wouldn’t, Heyde.” Detective Branston managed to sneak upon him.

He had his gun pointed at Heyde’s head. He was also watching Alejandra as she teased trooper Cuthbertson.

“She’s an illegal alien.”

“That doesn’t give you the right to shoot her. Now, step back and put your gun down.”

Detective Branston was being careful and watchful as he watches Heyde. If he makes any move, he was going to be shot. He watches as
Heyde puts his gun down and step back.

“Pull your cuffs out and handcuff yourself.”

Trooper Heyde does as he is told. He puts his cuffs on. He could see that his partner in crime was being teased by Alejandra.

Alejandra pulls a weapon from her dune buggy “now, toss your gun away from you before I shoot you.”

Trooper Cuthbertson tosses his gun away from him.

“Now take your cuffs out and cuff yourself.” Alejandra levels the gun at trooper Cuthbertson.

Trooper Cuthbertson pulls his cuffs out and cuffs himself.

“Now, let’s march over to your friend.” Alejandra gets out of the dune buggy and forces trooper Cuthbertson over to Detective Branston and trooper Heyde. He couldn’t believe the girl he was sent to capture had turned the table on him.

“You think you’re in control with that gun of yours.”

“No, I’m in control because you are a moron.” A smile appears on Alejandra’s face.

“Alejandra be nice.” Detective Branston looks at her.

“Are your friends on the way?”

“Yes, they are. You better, scoot.”

“Okay.” Alejandra turns to leave but stops.

She looks towards trooper Cuthbertson “oh, by the way, you were taken down by a squirt gun.” As she shoots him with it.

Belka wakes-up and snuggles closer to her mother. She could feel her mother’s arms holding her protectively to her. She buries her face against her mother’s chest and inhales her scent. She couldn’t believe she had finally found her birth mother.

Her mother had accepted the fact she wanted to be a girl and had promised to pay for the surgery to give her the body she wanted. She listens to her mother’s heart as her head rested on her mother's chest.

Belka just lay there in her mother’s arms and enjoy being held by her. Her foster parents were never liked this. Sure, they held her when she was upset, but not like the way her birth mother was holding her. This is what she has always wanted and now she has it.

Maria wakes-up when she feels Belka move some. She held her more protectively and never wanted to let her little girl go again. She spent the past seventeen years without her baby and she wasn’t going to lose her now.

After a while, Belka sits up and looks down at her mother. She felt her mother fall back to sleep. She just stares at her and wonders why her father went to the extremes he did.

She gets out of bed quietly and grabs her robe. She had to use the bathroom. She slips out of the bedroom and heads towards the bathroom.
She does her business and when she comes out of the bathroom. Isa was standing in the hallway.

“How did things go between you and your mother?” Isa hopes everything was fine.

“Oh, it was fine, and thank you for everything, Isa.” Belka hugs Isa.

Isa returns the hug. She has grown fond of Belka and will hate to see her leave.

“I better get back to the room, before my mother wakes-up.” Belka releases Isa and heads back to the bedroom.

Isa watches as Belka walks off. She was happy that Belka finally found her mother. She walks downstairs and into the bar. There were a few patrons in the bar, enjoying either the breakfast they served or their favorite morning drinks.

Isa walks over towards the bar “things seem to be slow this morning, Freddie.”

Freddie looks up from the booze he was putting away towards Isa’s voice. He loved working for and also, it was unusual for Isa to be up this early. You normally didn’t see her until later in the evening.

“Something is in the air this morning?” Freddie looks around the room.

“What do you mean, Freddie?” Isa has figured out that Freddie possesses a unique ability.

He was normally right when he says that something is in the air and about to happen.

“What is it?” Isa was curious.

Freddie was looking around the bar as he looks for something. His gaze lands on the four men that had come in and have been asking about
Belka.

“Them! It has to do with them.” Freddie was looking at the four men.

Isa looks over towards the men. They were eating breakfast and drinking some sort of drink as well.

“Do I need to warn the staff?” Isa was protective of her staff.

“No, things won’t go that fair.’ Freddie’s hunch on that statement was very strong.

“Okay.” Isa didn’t sound so sure, but if Freddie says it. She should believe in his words.

Isa takes a seat at the bar and has Freddie make her a virgin bloody mary. She was dressed in her old style gothic Victorin clothes. She sits at the counter and watches the people in the saloon.

The old antique clock dings at the top of the hour. According to the clock, it was 10:00 a.m. She double-checks it with her pocket watch. The two showed the same time.

“Here you go, Isa.” Freddie sets down a tall antique green-tinted glass of bloody Mary in front of Isa.

“Thanks, Freddie.” She takes a sip of it.

“You’re….” Freddie stops mid-sentence when he notices Sheriff Markus and three of his deputies walk into the saloon.

Sheriff Markus had gotten the arrest warrant for the four men. He had to get Judge Wyatt to approve it. Once he had the warrant, he got three of his deputies and headed over to the Crystal Palace. One of his men has been keeping tabs on the men he was going to arrest.

Isa spotted the Sheriff and his deputies as they came walking into the saloon. She just watches as they walk over to the four men. She hopes the guys will cooperate, instead of fighting the sheriff and his men.

Nate and his men were enjoying their breakfast and beer. They hadn’t seen any sign of Belka or her mother at all. He figured that she would show up sometime in the morning, so they decided to wait around the saloon for a few hours.

As they are sitting and enjoying their drinks and breakfast, they are approached by the Sheriff and three of his men. Nate looks up at the
Sheriff “what can I do for you Sheriff?”

“You and your men are under arrest, Mr. Hathway.”

Nate looks around the saloon and could tell several people were watching them. He looks back towards the sheriff and his deputies.

“Fine!” Nate and his men stand up and put their hands behind their backs.

Sheriff Markus and his deputies handcuff them and escort them back to the old fashioned jail cells. Nate and his men couldn’t believe what the cells looked like.

Isa had watched everything as the men were arrested and escorted out. She still finds it amazing when Freddie's hunches come true.

“You were right, Freddie.”

“I was just lucky.” Freddie heads down the bar counter to refill a patron's whiskey glass.

Isa just shakes her head as she drinks her bloody Mary. Normally, she would be in her room sound asleep. However, she decided to stay awake and see how things were between Belka and her mother. Now, the question is, what should they do about Belka’s father? That matter needs to be taken care of.

Once Isa finishes her drink, she leaves a tip for Freddie and heads upstairs to her apartment. She covers up a yawn as she starts undressing and get ready to lay down for a while. Once she was dressed in her black nightgown. Isa lays down and set her alarm to wake her.

Isa slowly drifts off to sleep, while thinking about how to get even with Belka’s father.

Detective Branston’s House:
Alejandra yawns as she gets up out of bed. She had come home after capturing state trooper Cuthbertson and trooper Heyde. Detective Branston had stayed behind to make sure the troopers were put in jail. She walks towards the kitchen to fix herself a cup of coffee.

She stops in the living room and moves the curtain aside to look outside and see if detective Branston was home. She spots his car in the driveway. A smile appears on her face as she heads back towards the kitchen.

Alejandra picks the remote up for the television and turns it on. She was enjoying living with detective Branston. The problem she needs to figure out now, is what is she going to do about her legal status. The three solutions she saw before her, was to keep living as an illegal immigrant or live the life of the person’s identity she had. The second choice was to go back to Mexico, which isn’t something she wanted to do. She liked living here in the United States. The third choice, which would take some work on Detective Branston’s end would for him to adopt her. However, she would still face problems, because of the current politics going on in Washington D.C. about immigrants.

She fixes herself a bowl of Lucky Charms that detective Branston bought for her when they went grocery shopping two days ago. A smirk appears on her face because Detective Branston was like most bachelor's. He didn’t know what to buy for a teenage girl or what foods they might like.

She eats her bowl of Lucky Charms and enjoys her first cup of coffee. She watches the morning news to see if there was going to be any mention of the State Troopers that were arrested last night. A piece about her uncle appears on the news for being a human trafficker.

They show the junkyard as he is lead out in handcuffs. She does wonder what is going to happen to the place. She can’t claim it, because she was illegal.

Once Alejandra finishes eating and drinking her coffee. She heads back to her bedroom and slips on her coveralls. She felt something come loose on her dune buggy last night while playing mouse. She heads out to the garage to work on her dune buggy.

Alejandra finds the problem and notices that the cotter pin that held the castle nut in place had broken. She knew she should have replaced it with a brand new one, instead of an old one. She goes over to her tool chest and looks for the package of new cotter pins.

“Ah! Here you guys are.” Alejandra takes out a new cotter pin.

Alejandra walks back over to the dune buggy and tightens down the castle nut. She slips the cotter pin in.

“There! That should do the trick.”

Alejandra goes over the rest of her buggy, double-checking everything. She notices the NOS bottles were low, from using them last night. She checks the oil and fuel filter.

Afterward, she stands back with a shop rag in her hands. She glances at the Autolite neon clock hanging on the garage wall and notices shes been out in the garage for at three hours. She tosses the rag into the basket she keeps out in the garage to be cleaned.

When she walks into the house, she notices detective Branston up and drinking coffee in the kitchen. A smile appears on her face “it lives!”
Sebastian watches as Alejandra comes walking in from the garage. He knew she was somewhere around the house, but didn’t know where.

“Been working on your buggy again?”

“Yep, one of my cotter pins snapped last night.” She walks over to the refrigerator and grabs an ice tea.

“Well, you will be pleased to know that ex-trooper Cuthbertson and Heyde are in jail. There is enough evidence to put them away for a long time. Also, their associates will be joining them.”

“That’s good to know. I saw on the news this morning that my uncle was arrested.” Alejandra sits down at the table.

“Yeah, the troopers gave him up as well. They figure since you caused them to be arrested. That they weren’t going down without taking him down.”

“Good! My uncle deserves to go to jail. We do have another problem.”

“I know. You’re here illegally and if ICE finds out, you’ll be arrested and deported. I was thinking about adopting you. That way, there would be nothing they could do.”

“That could be complex because then I would have to tell them how I got here. Also, the political environment will be a problem.”

“Don’t worry about the political environment. I know a lawyer that deals in these matters.”

“You do know we have a second option. I can keep using the identity I found.” Alejandra looks at Sebastian.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t like that idea, but you should keep that as an undercover identity, instead of using your real name.”

“Okay. You do know my uncle had something to do with the original person's death and disappearance.”

“I know.” Sebastian knew from some records and from what Alejandra told him.

“So, what do we next?” Alejandra was curious.

“I was planning on going to speak with the sheriff of Crystal Spring resort about Belka Ann Karlen. They caught the men that were trying to kill her. I figured you might like to come along.”

“Sounds good to me. Are we going to today?”

“No, today, I’m going to work on my paperwork, and later we will go out for dinner.”

“Cool, I’ll get started on some laundry.”

“Okay.”

Alejandra heads towards her bedroom and gathers up all her dirty clothes. She still finds it amazing that she has new clothes, instead of wearing rags all the time. She separates them into different piles and takes them out to the garage to start washing them.

Alejandra looks over at Sebastian as they drove down the highway towards Crystal Spring Resort. She had been doing some research and found a race she wanted to enter her dune buggy in.

“Hey, have you ever heard of the Baja 500 and Baja 1000?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of them. Why are you asking?” Detective Branston glances towards Alejandra.

“Well, I saw an ad for it, and I was thinking it might be a good test to enter my dune buggy in.” Alejandra wanted to give it a try.

“You do know, that it’s a dangerous course and you’re not legal yet.” Detective Branston was still waiting to hear back from his friend about adopting Alejandra.

“I know, but I could register under the name on the driver's license I still have.”

“I’ll think about it.” Sebastian didn’t know what he thought about Alejandra competing in a race, but he would think about it.

After an hour or so of driving, Detective Branston spots the sign for Crystal Springs Resort. He takes the road which leads to a huge parking lot. He is stopped at the entrance of the parking lot by a security guard.

“Welcome to Crystal Springs Resort, how can I help you?” Michael did a quick look-see while waiting on the driver to respond.

“I’m here to see Sheriff Markus.” Detective Branston was watching officer Dorsey.

“Is he expecting you?”

“No, he isn’t. Does it matter?” Detective Branston was curious.

“Yes, it does sir. If he is expecting you. He would have sent word and you can drive over to sheriff office. Since he isn’t expecting you. You have to park in general parking and take the stagecoach into town.”

“How much is parking?” Detective Branston reaches for his wallet.

“The first twenty-four hours is free. If you’re going to see the sheriff and will be staying longer. Just have him send us a notice and you’re parking will be free after the twenty-four hours.” Michael watches the man and the young girl with him.

“Can we park anywhere or are the spots assigned?”

“You can park anywhere a spot is opened. There’s a special parking lot for the citizens who stay and work here.”

“Cool!” Alejandra didn’t know people stayed at the resort full time.

“Alright, do I need to sign anything?” Detective Branston wonders how they keep track of all the cars.

“I just need your signature on this pad.” Security guard Dorsey hands Detective Branston an Apple Ipad.

Branston looks over what was written carefully and signs the bottom of the agreement. He hands the Ipad back to security guard Dorsey.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you. And here is a map showing you where you can catch the stagecoach and all the buildings in town.” Security guard Dorsey hands
the map to Detective Branston.

Detective Branston accepts thee map. Security Guard Dorsey lifts the barrier for Detective Branson to drive into the parking lot.

“This place is kind of weird.” Alejandra watched the cars as they looked around for a parking spot.

Detective Branston manages to find an open spot near the old-style train station. It was the pickup spot where you caught the stagecoach.
They were the only two people waiting for the stagecoach to arrive. After ten minutes, an old fashion stagecoach arrives at the train station.
The driver looked like he stepped out of the old west.

“Good afternoon and welcome to Crystal Springs Resort. I’m Bart and this here is Billy.” Bart points to another gentleman that was sitting next to him.

Billy waves hello to Detective Branston and Alejandra. He climbs down front next to Bart and opens the door on the stagecoach “if you’ll step inside ma’am and sir.”

Detective steps in first and notices that the stagecoach was like it was, in the old west. He felt the stagecoach move when Alejandra steps in. She sits across from him.

“We will be moving in a few minutes. There are a few more people we are picking up.” Billy stands next to the door.

After a few minutes, a few more people show up at the stagecoach. Detective Branston sits next to Alejandra.

“Is this how they use to get around in the old West?”

“It's one of the ways. Before there were cars, planes, and buses. People would either ride horses or travel in cover wagons. When trains bridge the gap of getting from one coast to another. They would travel in them. Cities that were too far out and didn’t have trains that went to them, used stagecoaches like this.”

“Yeah, and the travel was sometimes long and uncomfortable.” An older man had been listening to Branston when he was talking to Alejandra.

“Yeah, you had that problem and sometimes being attack by Indians as well.” The woman sitting across from Alejandra spoke up.

It doesn’t take them long to get to the resort area. Alejandra couldn’t believe how old fashion the town looked.

“Here’s we are folks.” Bart stops in front of the Desert Rose hotel.

Billy opens the stagecoach door to help everyone out. He watches as Alejandra exists from the stagecoach. He has never seen anyone as cute as her, here at the resort. Belka was cute as well, but he knows she was planning on leaving the resort.

Alejandra looks around, after being helped out of the stagecoach. Everywhere she looked, she spotted people dressed up in old fashion western gear and people dressed in normal modern clothes. She could hear music coming from another big building down the street from them called Crystal Palace.

Detective Branston steps up close to Alejandra “this seems kind of weird. Like we have gone back in time.”

“It does seem weird and I wouldn’t mind looking around this place.” Alejandra wonders what the stores and other businesses were like.

“Maybe after I talked with Sheriff Markus.” Detective Branston didn’t see why they couldn’t look around some.

They walk down the wooden sidewalk towards the Sheriff’s office. The building looked like it did back when the west was one. However, when
he gets closer and looks behind the sheriff's office. About a hundred yards or more was another building with a small parking lot with cars, four-wheelers, and a few dirt bikes.

“Did this use to be a movie set or something?” Alejandra saw how the buildings looked old but were somewhat new.

“You’re asking the wrong person, Alejandra.” Detective Branston stops in front of the sheriff’s office.

He opens the door and walks in. Alejandra follows behind him. The place looks like it did way back when. There were only a few modern
pieces of equipment inside the building.

Detective Branston and Alejandra couldn’t believe how the sheriff’s office looked. It looked like they had stepped back in time. The only exception was the addition of several modern pieces of office equipment.

“Can I help you?” Larry had watched as a middle-aged gentleman and a Mexican/Spanish looking teenage girl came walking into the office.

“Yes, I would like to talk to Sheriff Markus, if I could.” Detective Branston notices that the man he was talking to, looked like he stepped back in time from the old west.

“What’s this about, Mr.?” Larry looks at Detective Branston for his name.

“Detective Branston with the Mesquite Police Department. It’s about the investigation of Belka Ann Karlen.”

Alejandra stayed quiet as Detective Branston talked with the western style lawman. She notices several wanted posters lining the wall. Some of them had names and faces of people she didn’t recognize.

“Let me get him.” Larry walks over to one of the four desks in the office and picks up an old fashion headset.

Detective Branston watches the guy and several other people inside the sheriff’s office dressed in old western gear. He had to admit, that the town went all out to be accurate. He wonders if they stage gunfights and bank robberies as well?

After a few minutes, Larry puts the phone down. He turns and looks at detective Branston and the young lady standing next to the detective.

“If you’ll follow me please.” Larry motions for Detective Branston and Alejandra to follow him.

Detective Branston and Alejandra follow Larry towards the back of the Sheriff’s office. When they exit, there is a golf cart waiting for them.

“Sheriff Markus is over at the other building. Please, get in the golf cart please and I’ll drive you over there.” Larry climbs in on the driver's side.

Detective Branston takes the passenger seat and Alejandra sits in the back, behind detective Branston. Once everyone was seated and secured. Larry drives them over to the other building.

“Excuse me, why do you have two different buildings?” Alejandra was curious.

“Well, one building is used strictly as a resort attraction, while the building we are going to is used for business. We can’t have everything we do or are required by the federal government to be done at the other building.”

“What do you mean by the federal government? Don’t you fall under city and state?” Alejandra was curious about that.

“This is Native American land. So, the resort falls under tribal law. “

“That must make things interesting.” Detective Branston wonders what hoops they must jump through.

It doesn’t take them long to arrive at the other building. Larry leads them through the employees’ entrance, where they are checked and given guest badges.

“Well, here you go. He’s waiting for you inside the office.” Larry turns and leaves Detective Branston and Alejandra.

Detective Branston knocks on the door, before entering.

Sheriff Markus Office:
Markus was catching up on some paperwork when he received a phone call from his deputy at the old fashion jail in the resort. He was informed that a detective from Mesquite Police Department wanted to talk to him about the Belka Ann Karlen case.

He watches as his office door opens and the gentleman, he had looked upon the police database comes walking in, followed by a Mexican/Spanish teenage girl.

He stands up and holds his hand out “Hi, I’m Sheriff Markus.”

“I’m detective Branston and this here is my adopted daughter, Alejandra.” As Branston shakes Markus’s outstretched hand.

“So, I finally get to meet you, Mr. Branston. Did you managed to arrest the State Troopers that were involved with Ms. Karlen’s abduction?”
Sheriff Markus sits down in his chair and motions for Detective Branston and Alejandra to sit down in the chairs in front of his desk.

“Yes, and I found out that they were working with a local junk dealer. He was providing a way to dispose of the bodies and their vehicles as well.”

Alejandra looks down at the desk when detective Branston mentions her uncle's involvement. The man was a pig and a bastard. He deserved what he got in the end.

“Maybe the four I caught can share some light in their involvement with him.”

“If you don’t mind, I would like to question them myself.” Detective Branston wanted to know, what they knew.

“That can be arranged, but your daughter will have to wait either here in our waiting room, or I can make arrangements with the owner of the
Crystal Palace to show her around the town.” Markus figures Belka might like to talk to a girl her age.

Detective Branston looks at Alejandra “which would you like to do?”

Alejandra thinks about the two choices. The first one she would be bored out of her mind because she wouldn’t have anything to do. The second choice sounded more appealing to her. She looks at detective Branston “I wouldn’t mind exploring the town. It looks interesting.”

“I thought you might. Let me call Isa and arrange an escort for you. You’ll like her and the Crystal Palace.” Markus picks up the phone and dials Isa over at the Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace:
Isa was in her office when the old fashion phone in her office starts ringing. She normally wasn’t up this early, but today was different. She reaches over and picks the phone up “Hello, Crystal Palace, Isa speaking. How can I help you?”

“Hi Isa, I was wondering if you could send a person over to the Main Sheriff’s office to show a young lady around town.”

“Hhhmm, would Belka be alright? She’s working right now, and her mother is enjoying the Spa.”

“She would be perfect, Isa.”

“Alright, I’ll have Gale bring her over to you.”

“Thanks, Isa.” Markus ends the call.

Markus looks towards Alejandra “the owner of the Crystal Palace is sending someone over to show you around. She’s going to be here in a
little while. Why don’t I have someone escort you to the front to meet them.”

“Thank you, sheriff.” Alejandra was about to stand when Markus pulls out a card and hands it to her.

Alejandra looks at the card and notices it had an Indian Head on it. She accepts it and looks at Markus with a puzzled look on her face.

“It’s our version of a gift card. There are thirty dollars on it. You can buy anything in the resort with it. It’s a gift from the Sheriff’s office.”

“Thank you.” Alejandra puts the card in her purse.

A few minutes later, a young Native American deputy shows up to escort Alejandra to the waiting area. After waiting for ten minutes, two
figures on horseback come walking up to the office. On one horse, was a woman dressed in a Victorian Gothic dress. She looked a little pale and she was wearing dark sunglasses and long black gloves.

On the other horse was a young teenage girl, dressed in brown pants and wearing a button-down shirt and dusty cowboy boots. She also had on a light cream color cowboy hat.

“Hi, I’m Belka and this here is Gale. We were sent by Isa, the manager over at the Crystal Palace to pick you up and show you around town.” Belka had a pleasant smile on her face.

“I don’t know how to ride a horse.” Alejandra looked at the two big horses in front of her.

“That’s okay, you can ride behind me.” Gale holds her hand out to help Alejandra up onto her horse.

Alejandra grabs Gale’s hand and swings up behind Gale.

“Hold onto my waist, Alejandra.” Gale glances behind her.

Alejandra holds onto Gale’s slim waist. She liked how the fabric of Gale’s dress felt. She holds on as Gale and Belka ride back towards town, through the backway.

Detective Branston looks at the leader of the four men that had come to town to kill Belka. He couldn’t believe that this person and his companions were also working with the corrupt State Troopers he arrested.

“So, what are you proposing, Mr. Hathway?” Detective Branston looks at him.

“What I am proposing, Detective Branston is how would you like to get the person responsible for all this?” Mr. Hathway figures he could plea bargain for a lighter sentence.

“You mean Belka’s father?”

“Yes, I have enough information to give you. In exchange, I want a smaller sentence for me and my men.”

Sheriff Markus was watching the interrogation. He didn’t want to give them a lighter sentence. They tried to kill a teenage girl, all because her birth father wanted to hurt his ex-wife. He watches as Detective Branston walks out of the interrogation room.

“So, what do you think, Sheriff Markus?” Branston looks at the Sheriff.

“If the information pans out, I don’t see why not. However, her father is in another state.” Sheriff Markus figures they could consider the deal if it pans out.

“I think it might be a good idea, to see how good the information is. Belka’s mother should know why her ex-husband tried to kill their daughter.”

“True, Belka’s mother should know. She should have some say in this matter.” Sheriff Markus figures if anything, he should consult with Belka’s
mother.

“True. I’ll go back in and talk Hathway.

Crystal Palace:
Belka, Alejandra, and Gale arrive back to the stables behind the Crystal Palace. A fellow named Frank comes out to help the ladies. He helps Belka down first from the horse. He holds the horse Belka was on for her to climb down and once she was down. He holds Gale’s horse so she could slide down.

“Thanks, Frank.” Gale smiles at him.

Frank had started working for Isa a year ago. He had been let go from his last job and lost his apartment. He was living out of his van when he broke down near the parking lot. One of the security guys brought him to Isa and she offered him a job here at the town and a place to call his own. He liked the place and job so much. He decided to stay permanently.

“You’re welcome, Gale.” A smile appears on Frank’s face.

“Let’s go inside and get some lunch.” Gale looks towards Belka and Alejandra.

“But we have to put the horses away.” Belka was told if she took a horse out, she was to return it to the stables.

“I got you covered, Belka.” Frank takes the reigns and lead the horses to the stables.

“Thanks again, Frank.” Belka places a kiss on Frank's cheek.

Frank blushes from Belka kissing his cheek. She was a young teenage girl and he has never had one kiss him on the cheek before. A smile forms on his face.

Alejandra notices Frank’s cheeks when Belka kissed him. A smirk appears on her face. She wonders if he has ever had a pretty young girl kiss him before. She looks towards Gale and noticed a smirk on her face as well.

Alejandra and Gale watch as Frank heads to the stables with the horses. As they are heading towards the back entrance to the Palace “Gale, why are you dressed like a Gothic person? I thought this place theme was based on the old West.”

“It is, but some of us were given an experimental medicine that had unusual side effects. It made us sensitive to sunlight and made our eyes sensitive to bright light. So, Isa decided to use our uniqueness and do a vampire theme.” Gale liked the idea and so did the rest of the group that happened to be like her and Isa.

“So, everyone that is like you and Isa was test subjects for an experimental drug?” Alejandra was wonder why they volunteered for the
experiment.

“Yes.” Gale guides them to the front portion of the Palace.

As they walked by the kitchen, Alejandra could smell something she hasn’t had in years. The scent was intoxicating.

“Gale, do you think I could order what I just smelled?” Alejandra's stomach started growling.

Gale heard Alejandra’s stomach growled.

“Sounds like someone is hungry.” Belka smiles at Alejandra.

Gale places an order for the three of them. They walk over to a nearby table no one was sitting at and sit down.

“So, Belka. Do you know why you were left out in the desert?” Alejandra was curious because Detective Branston has been working on the case.

Belka looks at Alejandra “how do you know about that?”

“The Detective I came with, is investigating your case. I don’t know everything about what he found so far. However, he arrested several State Troopers that ran your friends off the highway.”

“They aren’t my friends. They sold me out for money and drugged my drink.” Belka couldn’t believe they had done that to her.

“Well, they are in the hospital right now. Don’t feel sorry or mad at them. They are getting what they deserve right now. So, do you know why you were left out in the desert?” Alejandra wanted to know why someone wanted to kill the young woman in front of her.

“According to my birth mother, it's my birth father that has been behind everything that has happened to me. He used me to hurt my mother after she divorced him. He kept me hidden from her and when she found out where I was, he would move me.” Belka was getting angry and upset.

Gale places her hand on Belka’s “everything will turn out okay, Belka.”

Alejandra sort of understood how Belka felt. Her uncle had mistreated her, and her parents were dead in Mexico.

“Here you ladies are.” Kelly had picked up their lunch and was looking where they sat down.

Vigilant Technology, Main Boardroom, Denver, Colorado:
Detective Branston and several members of the Denver police force enter Vigilant Technology. They are stopped by security before being allowed to go any further.

“Can I help you, gentlemen?” Security Officer Courtney looks at the six police officers standing before him.

“We’re here to arrest Richard Axium. Step aside, please.” Detective Branston looks at the security officer.

“He’s on the twelfth floor, in the main boardroom.” Security Officer Courtney steps aside to let the police officers in.

Detective Branston couldn’t believe the things Mr. Axium had done to keep his son/daughter away from his ex-wife. He also couldn’t believe the deal they made with Mr. Hathway either. However, Belka’s mother wanted to bring her ex-husband to justice. So, she agreed to the deal between the three of them. Judge Wyatt was willing to approve whatever paperwork they needed.

Detective Branston and the police from Denver heads up to the twelfth floor. Detective Branston was looking forward to arresting Mr. Axium for everything he has done and ordered. The elevator stops on the twelfth floor. Everyone inside exists and heads towards the main boardroom.
Boardroom:

Mr. Axium was listening to Mrs. Locke’s report on their recent stock purchases. A smile had appeared on his face, as he fantasized about what he would like to do to her. She had a nice figure; her make-up was tastefully applied and her lips. He wonders how her full lips would feel wrapped around his cock.

Just as Mrs. Locke finished her report. The door to the main boardroom opens and an older man dressed in a suit along with several Denver police officers behind him, enter the room.

“Mr. Axium, I’m Detective Branston with the Mesquite Police Department. I’m here to arrest you and take you back to Nevada to stand trial for the attempted murder of Belka Ann Karlen.” Detective Branston takes his cuffs out and forcibly turn Mr. Axium around to handcuff him.

Mr. Axium tries to resist, but Detective Branston was too forceful for him. He is turned back around to face his department heads “you might want your VP to fill in for you for a while.”

Detective Branston along with the Denver police leaves the boardroom with Mr. Axium.

Crystal Springs, Nevada:
Alejandra wakes-up and stretches. Yesterday, Detective Branston informed her that he was heading to Denver, Colorado to arrest Belka’s birth father. While he is gone, she would be staying at the Crystal Palace with Belka and her mother.

He left her some money to enjoy herself and if she has any problem either go to Belka’s mother or speak with Isa. She gets up and walks over to the window in her room and look outside. She notices the sky had clouded up and that it might rain.

She slips the nightgown she was wearing off and slip on an old fashion country dress Isa gave her last night before she went to bed. She had all the proper undergarments to go with it and a pair of handmade leather boots.

Once she is dressed, she heads downstairs to grab some breakfast. When she walked into the bar area, the place was half full. She wonders why there were so many people in the bar.

Alejandra spots Gale with a tray in her hand. She walks over to her, as she heads back into the kitchen.

“Morning Gale.”

“Hey, Alejandra. What would you like for breakfast?” Gale and the rest of the staff on duty were told to serve Alejandra, Belka, and her mother whatever they wanted to eat all day.

“Do you guys make pancakes?”

“Yep, what type would you like?”

“Cinnamon apples?”

“Okay. Just find yourself an empty table and I’ll bring you some juice.”

“Thanks, Oh, one more thing. Why are you guys so busy this morning?” Alejandra was curious.

“Today, Ginger is making her famous Irish breakfast.” Gale knows, Ginger was an amazing chef.

“I’ll have to try her breakfast one day.” Alejandra has never had Irish food before.

“Well, Ginger is making her famous Irish stew today, so you can have it for dinner.” Gale was planning on having some.

“Cool.”

Gale smiles as she walks away and heads back into the kitchen to place Alejandra’s order. She spots Ginger over at their old-style stove cooking.

“You have a large crowd out there in the bar.”

“Good.”

Ginger stirs and flips the food she is cooking. She was trying to cover several orders at once. Her assistant was preparing the plates and trays to go out.

Alejandra watches as the patrons enjoy their Irish breakfast. Gale stops by and places a glass of orange juice in front of her.

“Thanks, Gale.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie.” Gale heads off to take care of another person.

Belka and Maria come downstairs. They spot Alejandra sitting by herself at a table, near the standup piano. They walk over towards the table.

Alejandra spots Belka and her mother, Maria walking over towards her. A smile appears on her face “good morning.”

“Good morning. Do you mind if we join you?”

“Please.”

Belka and Maria sit down. Belka looks at Alejandra “so, what are you having for breakfast?”

“Cinnamon apple pancakes. What are you thinking about?”

“My standard. Scrambled eggs and country ham.” Belka loved country ham.

“What’s the special today?” Maria looks at her daughter.

“Ginger is fixing her famous Irish breakfast.” Belka knew from talking with Ginger yesterday.

“Sounds, interesting.”

Gale comes over to take their order. Once she was done, she heads towards the kitchen.

“So, do you think everything went okay?” Alejandra looks towards Maria.

“Let’s hope so.” Maria wanted her ex-husband to pay for what he has done to her and Belka.

“I agree with my mom. I hope my birth father is punished for what he did or tried to do to me.” Belka had venom in her voice.

“Remind me to never piss you two off.”

Belka and Maria were sitting with their lawyer as the bail hearing took place. Belka looked at her father several times and wonder why he did what he did to her and her friends. She got word that her friends were slowly recovering from the coma they had been in.

Even with what happened to her, she still considers them to be her friends and hope they could patch things up between them. She listens as her father’s high price lawyer was trying to get a bail set low. She couldn’t believe how persuasive and convincing the man was.

Judge Lockhart looks at the lawyer for Belka’s father and lowers his glasses to look over the rim. He heard the agreement to set bail so that Belka’s father could be free while waiting for his trail “bail is denied. Mr. Axium has shown that he takes no responsibility for the pain and injuries he has inflicted on his ex-wife and daughter.”

Mr. Axium looks at his lawyer first, with a look that said for him to get him free. Then he looks over towards his ex-wife and daughter. He should have killed the two of them a long time ago.

Belka couldn’t resist and wave at him. There was a smirk on her face as she did it. She hopes someone makes her father their bitch.

Belka and Maria leave the courtroom and head out of the courthouse. Maria was happy that her husband is going to pay for what he did to the two of them. She looks at her daughter and could see that she was happy as well.

“I have missed so much time not being able to watch you grow up.” Maria couldn’t believe how beautiful her daughter was.

“I feel the same way, mom. I didn’t believe you would just abandon me like my foster parents said you did.” Belka had asked about her real parents.

“Sweetie, I would have never had abandoned you. You mean too much to me.”

Belka and Maria finally make it to the rental she had gotten when she found out where Belka was. She unlocks the doors and the two women get inside the car.

“Where would you like to go for lunch?”

“Can we do Mexican?” Belka looks at her mother.

“Mexican it is then.” Maria backs the car up and heads towards the nearest Mexican restaurant.

Detective Branston’s House:
Alejandra was sitting on the sofa in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She had the place to herself this morning. Detective Branston had a court appointment and had to go into the office and fill out all the paperwork from the case.

She had fun at Crystal Spring Resort and Isa said if she ever wants to come work there. She would be more than welcome too. Isa gave her a few passes for the Crystal place and the Desert Rose hotel.

Detective Branston had bought her a refurbished laptop from a guy he knew. She could play a few online games on it if she wanted to, but she was researching it to see what she needed to do to take part in Baja races. She so wanted to enter and try them out. As she kept reading what the requirements would be and what vehicles were permitted in the race.

She realizes that she’ll have to get a bigger dune buggy then what she currently had. Her dune buggy was too small for the race. There were obstacles that her little dune buggy wouldn’t be able to handle.

“Fubar!” She leans back against the sofa and tries to remember if there was another dune buggy in the junkyard she could grab.

She was lucky to have found the one she currently has. It was in a place her uncle never went to and she had managed to grab all the parts she needed from the other cars in the junkyard. She does a computer search for a frame or dune buggy for sale.

She finds a guy that has one he is selling. There were pictures of it in the ad. She looks through them and the things we're going to need a new engine, or she’ll have to rebuild the one it has. She was no expert, but after working in her uncle’s junkyard, she has gained enough talent to rebuild a vehicle.

Around noontime, Alejandra heads into the kitchen and make her some lunch. She had gone out shopping with Detective Branston and stocked on food and spices. She put a little flour down on the counter and take out the pizza dough they bought and go about making herself a nice pizza for lunch.

By the time she was done making the pizza, it looked like a masterpiece. She’s been watching some of the food shows that come on cable and been taking notes on how to cook. Once the oven was at the proper temperature, she slides the pizza into the oven.

Alejandra keeps an eye on the pizza while it cooks. While she is in the kitchen, she empties the dishwasher. Once all the clean dishes are put away and the dishwasher is reloaded, she runs it.

While she waits for the pizza to cook, she wonders how Belka and her mother did in court today.

She hopes Belka’s father gets the book thrown at him.

Crystal Palace:
Gale spots Isa sitting at the bar watching the crowd as it slowly came in. She knows the staff was going to miss Belka. She brought a breeze of fresh air into the place. She walks over to Isa “penny for your thoughts, boss.”

Isa turns and looks at Gale “I was just thinking how this place is going to be so different without Belka here.” Isa has grown fond of Belka.

“It does seem strange that people who are left in the desert or need a second chance. Always end up here.” Gale herself had found the place when she needed a second chance.

“True, and in some ways, we all need to be able to get our life back on track or find where we belong.” Isa knew that form her experience. She was lucky that a group of Native Americans found her and the others. Otherwise, they might have died, instead of getting a second lease on life.

The rest of the morning, Isa watches as the bar fills up. She finishes off her favorite drink and heads up to her bedroom. The woodworker that worked for her, designed a nice coffin for her to sleep in. That had brought a smile to her face.

She walks into her bedroom and changes out of her Gothic clothes and take a sponge bath, before putting on her silky black lace nightgown. She checks the shutters and shade to make sure no light was finding its way into her room. She climbs into her coffin bed and snuggles down to sleep.

Belka stretches as she wakes-up. The bed she slept in last night was amazing. They had gone out for dinner and afterward, her mother took her shopping. She stares up at the ceiling in her new bedroom and a smile appears on her face.

She gets up and heads towards her mother’s bedroom. She opens the bedroom door and walks into the bedroom. She crawls into bed with her mother and snuggles close to her. She could still smell the perfume her mother had worn last night.

Maria felt Belka snuggle against her. She wraps her arms around Belka and pulls her against her body. She was so happy to have her baby again. She places a kiss on Belka's forehead.

Maria just holds her daughter as the two of them just lay in bed. She knew Belka was serious about wanting to be a girl. She went ahead and made an appointment with her doctor to examine Belka and was looking into how much it would be, to give Belka the type of figure she wanted.

Her former husband was going to receive the punishment he deserved. He tried to kill their child and kept her hidden from her for sixteen years. Now he was going to get what he deserved.

Mesquite Police Department, Nevada:
Richard Axium and several other convicts are loaded on the prison transport. Richard couldn’t believe that his lawyer couldn’t get him parole. When he gets out he is going to have Judge Lockhart and Detective Branston killed.

“Move it, convict.”

Richard gets shove from behind by one of the deputies overseeing their loading. He turns to look at the deputy with a snare on his face.

“Stop shoving us, fat man.”

“What did you say, convict?” As Deputy Harris slams his fist into Richard Axium’s stomach.

Richard winces in pain as he butts head with the deputy. He was about to let this fat deputy get away with hitting him.

“Alright, break it up.” Deputy Carlson steps in between Richard and Deputy Harris.

He looks at Mr. Axium and figures this man is going to be trouble. He heard a rumor that he tried to kill a bunch of teenagers, including his child. He already had a busload of killers, drug addicts, and thieves.

Mr. Axium gets on the bus and takes his seat. He was going to make sure both deputies are killed if it is the last thing he does. He watches as other convicts are loaded and once they were on and secured.

The bus starts heading towards the prison they were heading for. Halfway to their destination, the road under the bus explodes, sending the bus flipping. Smoke fills the bus as gunfire could be heard. Just as Richard Axium is passing out, he spots two guys dressed in black body armor with their heads covered by some sort helmet.

One walks over to him and cuts his restraints. He helps Mr. Axium up off the broken window. He catches Richard Axium, just as he passes out.

Several of the four armored guys escort several people from the bus to a waiting, van. Once everyone was loaded, one of the armors figures bangs on a wall separating the cargo area from the drivers.